Final Fantasy XIII 1. Across the Plains

"By Maker, we must be in the sticks. I haven't seen this much green since that incident back at our old school with the-"

"Please, Snow. I would like to keep that under rasps. The first thing that I don't need is to be known as the new and small cuckoo kid with the weird and experimental attitude." Hope shook his head unfaithfully.

"What're you worrying about, kid? It's just a private school. The way that things should go, you and I will be kicked out within a month or so." Snow leaned back on the train seat with his little friend next to him. He let out a contented sigh and closed his eyes.

Hope, on the other hand, leaned forward and put head in his hands, running his fingers through his hair. "I intend on staying in school this time, Snow. As long as you don't get me mixed up with any of your shenanigans, I'll be fine and things will be completely normal and mediocre with my life. It'll be just the way that I want it."

Snow playfully punched Hope on his shoulder. "Relax, kid. You know that something will happen eventually. I'll convince you and then boom-we're out of there!"

"You must be the most uninspired human being that I know."

"I'm hell of a lot better along than you are. You can't even talk to women and I'm pretty sure it said somewhere in that pamphlet that this year's class is a female majority."

"All I need to be able to do is talk to my teachers and I'll be fine."

"I bet not."

"Sounded off like a true underachiever, Snow."

"Didn't your parents send you to this school for the sole purpose of _making_ friends anyway? You won't be able to shoot down everyone that comes up and says 'hi' to you, y`know?"

Hope took in a deep breath. He hadn't really thought about it, but that was actually it. There were no problem with his grades and certainly no problems with his behavior (other than the occasional scuttle that Snow always dragged him about in). Even if he did do anything worthy of expulsion, Hope's parents were always there to stand up for him. They were highly respected among the community of Palumpolum and across the small world of Cocoon. Any board member of any school who's in their right mind wouldn't do anything to hurt the prospects of their only son who, in his own right, is a genius beyond the capabilities that anyone has ever seen.

His friend on the other hand, a man who could be considered his only friend, was on the exact opposite end of the scale. Snow could never concentrate on his class work or homework long enough to care whether he graduated or not. He saw school as an excuse to fool around without having to deal with any legal matters. While his grades were poor and his behavior during school hours could be even worse, he was always considered an amazing athletic prodigy in the making. If he actually applied himself in any of his classes, Snow would've actually been eligible and team captain of any of the sports offered at their schools. One former coach for the football team once tried to sneak him in during practices and put him in their away games when no-one from the school except for his teammates and cheerleaders was around, but the man was found out about soon enough and fired from his job not only as coach of that team but also as the athletic director for the school.

"Snow, when did you become the smarter one out of the two of us?" Hope said this with a dumbfounded smile.

"I'm not smart, it's just common sense. Your parents have been worried about your social life, so they paid my way along with yours to go to this school. I'll flunk my classes, sure, but the main reason I'm here is to be your friend and help you no matter what the cause is." Snow reached in his satchel and felt around for something in particular. After a little bit of rustling around, he had found that shiny red apple that he had wanted and took a bite of it. The sound of him taking a chomp out of the fruit caused Hope to look up towards the blonde man.

"When were you going to tell me you had food?! I've been _starving!_" Hope reached across to the man's bag, trying to get a hold on it. Snow just put his giant glove covered hand in Hope's face, making sure he didn't get any further.

"Hold it there, squirt. If you were smart, you would've brought something along with you. You knew this was going to be a long trip." He took another bite out of the apple.

"I am smart though! They tested me with an IQ of 162!"

Snow shrugged lazily. "Then maybe it's just common sense that you're lacking after all."

After about five minutes of many tricks that he tried to pull on Snow in order to get to the bag with food inside of it, Hope gave up and just sat back in his chair. He looked down at his watch on his left wrist which told the time, day, and the day of the week. Currently it was 4:52 P.M. on Wednesday the 14th. He, for a second time on this long trip on the train that he boarded, leaned back and sighed very heavily. Hope thanked the Goddess that he had gotten the window seat to watch the scenery going along the tracks.

He saw the golden sun go along the great plains of Gran Pulse. The landscape wasn't the forsaken area that it once was. It used to be a danger zone to all and all were recommended to stay away from the land no matter what the situation is. Somehow, though, in the last year or two, the government of Cocoon and the numerous, albeit small, villages along Pulse reached an agreement in which the two worlds would finally connect. A large tube was constructed first which was turned into an elevator that could hold upwards of over 500 people at once. That was the very elevator Hope and Snow took to get to these lands. The people of Cocoon quickly took advantage of this and populated the land of Gran Pulse. The villages that were once small and only full of unique tribes were quickly welcoming in new residents. Within a year these villages escalated to cities of over a million people in total population. Businesses took advantage of this factor and created many diners, factories, and also private schools. There were things other than this, but this looked to be what mainly took over the general public in order to create jobs for the growing masses.

Hope put his head up against the window as he watched the still-grassy areas of the plains of Gran Pulse pass by swiftly. He wondered about many things, including what his new life would be like at this private school. An elongated stay with this many other teenagers in his age group would surely make him nauseous unless he found some way to escape it. He would locate the nearest isolated area as quickly as he could and use that as his hiding place for his studies. He wouldn't leave it for the life of him and if he had to, it would be for classes or to go back to his dorm to sleep for the night. Hope had a game plan and he was positive he wasn't going to stray from it.

Hope just about fell into a slumber when he smelled something odd all of a sudden. It was a sweeter smell and one that was very fresh. He opened his eyes to see a pear under his nose, being wafted about teasingly. The arm that was doing this came from Snow, who, when Hope made eye contact with him, winked at him and dropped it into his lap. Hope fumbled it about until he finally got a good grasp on it. He looked down at its yellow outside and smiled down at it. He then took a taste of the succulent fruit.

As he gulped it down, he turned to Snow. "Thanks."

Snow put on a smile. "Don't mention it kid. We still have another few hours left and I don't want to hear your moaning about how hungry you are."

Hope rolled his eyes. "Glad to know that you're looking out for me."

"Well isn't that what friends are for?"

Friends. Hope couldn't believe that this man that at one time he had hated with a burning passion was his best friend. He only vaguely recalled the event.

* * *

Hope was on his way home from school. He had to stay after for helping teachers clean up various classrooms for an incident that occurred between him and another student. It was a misunderstanding at best in his own mind, but it was still something that needed to be faced with punishment either way.

It was getting dark out. His parents had been informed that he would be coming home late and gave permission for him just to walk home to think about what he had done by himself.

_Damn. Damn this to hell._ Hope thought this to his self. _One little misunderstanding and I'm walking home alone, likely to be mugged._ He grabbed his opposite shoulders, shivering a little bit from the brisk and cool air around him. _Not to mention it's colder than Lake Bresha during winter right now!_

It was at that moment when he passed under a light. It was just a normal street lamp that gave off a hue of orange against the sidewalk that he was on. He stepped under it and stopped in order to warm himself up a little bit. The odds turned against him once again when he saw three big men (in size, perhaps not maturity) walk up under the same street lamp with him from the opposing direction. They all had dumb smirks on their faces as if they knew that they had superiority in this situation. Of course, they did though.

After a thorough checking of Hope's person for a wallet and any other valuables, all of which they just had to take, one of the men grabbed him from behind while one of the others repeatedly starting punching him in the stomach and across the face. Hope was in horrible pain, and didn't know what to do. He was going to die if he didn't do something. It wasn't like he could really do anything really other than beg and plead. Whenever he got a chance to look upward into the night sky, he prayed to Etro for some type of help. It was a few hits in the stomach later that she must've answered his calls.

"Hey guys, let's give the kid a break. He's already given us the money. We don't need to have to add assault to that list of crimes." It was the third man who hadn't really participated at all in the event of stealing or beating Hope up. Hope understood why though: he was a student at the same school. He knew his face.

"What're you talking about, Snow?! We need to cut this kid off before he narks on us!" The man who was holding Hope told his compatriot.

"He's right, Snow. We need to kill him." The other man said.

_Kill me?_ Hope felt fear strike his heart to its innermost core. His eyes widened and he felt sweat run down his cold face.

"Look at the poor kid! He can hardly stand as it is!" Snow pleaded to the other men.

"Who gives a shit?! Let's put him out of his misery then!"

Snow stood there and looked at Hope, the intent in his eye to save the younger student. He pondered what he could do and realized he had no choice.

"So what will it be, Villiers? You gonna help us or are you gonna be a hero?" The man who recently had his fists shoved in Hope's stomach asked this.

In response, Snow quickly threw a right hook at the man and connected, causing him to reel back and try to collect himself. By the time he looked back up, he saw another right jab being thrown at him and once again he was brought aback. Snow then kicked him in the stomach for good measure, knocking the wind out of him. The other man, who was still dumbstruck by the events that had just occurred, watched as his partner went to the ground. By the time he looked back up, he saw nothing but a barrage of fist coming towards his face. Hope had managed to escape before this had happened. Hope fell to the ground and looked at the event unfold in horror while he lay on his back. He saw Snow beat the living daylights out of the man until he finally succumbed to the beating and fell to the ground unconscious. Snow stood there, breathing heavily.

After a little while, he then turned to Hope and went to him. Hope tried to crawl away just out of pure fear of the man of what he was going to do next. If he could do that to two fully grown and buff men, then he didn't want to know what he could do to him.

"C'mon kid. Let's get you to a hospital." Snow picked the smaller student up and put him on his back. Snow started walking down the sidewalk, leaving the two men bloodied and beaten.

"So what's your name? I've seen you around school, but I've never heard of ya." Snow asked honestly of Hope.

Hope paused for a few moments, thinking about whether it would be right or not. "H-Hope. My name is Hope."

"Hope, huh? Sounds a little on the feminine side, if you ask me."

"And Snow's much better?"

Snow let out a small chuckle. "So you know my name, at least."

They continued onwards. It was approaching 8:00 by the time that the duo made it to the hospital. He had given thought to call Hope's parents to tell them about the incident (leaving out the little part that he was involved in the original trio of muggers). Nora had answered the phone and she said that they'd be on their way. Hope was hospitalized for three days and Snow stayed by for every single one of them as he felt the guilt inside of him wrenching at his soul. Once he got out, Snow vowed to protect the tiny genius while Hope secretly promised to his self that he would try his best to become stronger, whether it be through physical endurance or becoming some type of wizard (magic was, in fact, an art that was frowned upon by the general public; many people think of those who can perform it as freaks).

* * *

_And here we are. Today. Snow's still a fit buff guy and…well, I'm still me._ Hope split a grin as he saw them going towards an oncoming tunnel.

They were almost there; a way to a new life in the city of Titanus.


	2. Train Station

A voice of a conductor came over the train's intercom.

"Thank you all for riding with us. We will arrive shortly in the city of Titanus in about 5 minutes. So please remain seated until the train comes to a complete stop. We want to thank you all for riding with us."

"'The _city_ of Titanus?" Snow said with a questionable tone in his voice. "You have to be joking."

Hope nodded his head. Snow was unquestionably right about that. Titanus, despite its misleading name, is not that large in the slightest. It has a population that is just barely over the 5,000 mark including the student body at the private school. Except for the center of the city, most of the work force is in agriculture. Those who live more towards the center have a chance working at factories or civil working jobs such as convenience stores and restaurants. Then there are the lucky few of the entirety that gets to teach. They are all scholars who get paid well; even the mayor of the city doesn't get paid as well as the teachers there.

"So what's the first thing you're going to do once you get there, Hope?" Snow asked this genuinely.

Hope put his index fingers to his forehead and thought about it rather silently. He let out a heavy breath. "I honestly don't know, Snow. I'll probably map out my hiding spots from the rest of society and then meet you at our dorm room."

Snow pinched the bridge of his nose, obviously annoyed with the young man. "You're not getting the idea of what your parents want at all, are you?"

"Look, it's not my fault that my parents-and I love them to death when I say this-are so blatantly stupid at times to think that they could fix my problems. I'm sixteen now, for the Goddess' sake!"

"Keep in mind that you're also a major shrimp for a sixteen-year-old."

Hope pressed on even though he was bothered by that statement. "The point is that I should be able to make my own decisions regardless of what my parents have planned for me. That's just a solid fact."

Snow sat back in his seat. "I thought facts were proven by example. From what I've seen, you just take your parents' punishment and move along."

"Ah, shut it."

The two sat in silence up until the train's brakes began to squeal. They saw through the semi-dirtied window stacks of smoke coming from one of the local factory. There were buildings upon buildings and people upon people. Even for only above 5,000, there seemed to be a ridiculous amount more. On the other side of the train, Hope and Snow looked to see the beginning of what looked to be the agricultural zone of the city of Titanus. There were endless amounts of many colored Chocobos roaming the fields. Some red, some blue, and some just a brilliant gold. Then there were the more savage beasts roaming the fences of those fields. Behemoths and Uridimmu were looking hungrily upon the wonderful riding monsters. They wouldn't dare try to cross though. Even the wild monsters knew that if they crossed that boundary, they would be killed on the spot and the farmers tending to their flock would feast that night. There was the occasional beast who tried to get in once day had fallen, but then there was the security force that traced the districts and zones at night that would also make sure none of the monsters would pass through. Defenses were at maximum at all times and there was virtually no threat to the small city of Titanus.

"We have now arrived in the wonderful and beautiful city of Titanus. Please make sure that you retrieve all of your luggage from the train and don't leave anything of value on. If you are staying for going on to the city of Oerba, remain seated as the train will leave immediately after all passengers who are staying in Titanus have deposited from the train. Thank you for your patience and thank you all for riding with us."

Snow grabbed his satchel and reached up above to the compartments to retrieve his traveling case. "These guys sure are wordy, aren't they?"

"They just try to keep the peace and try to make their customers happy. It's all part of business." Hope shrugged, having to climb up on one of the seats in order to receive his luggage bag. "We better hurry before these people get ticked at us. Some of them look like they're time bombs waiting to explode."

* * *

They sat outside at the station, waiting for a cab to come by to pick the two of them up. The city claimed to have taxis, but with it being so barren, nearly none came by the station on an hourly basis. Snow started tapping his feet and whistling a tune while Hope sat back and read a book entitled Pulse: A History of the Wild Lands.

Snow looked over Hope's shoulder. "How can you stand to read something that boring?"

"I figure I might as well study up on the history of this place so I won't look like a total idiot."

Snow sat back up. "It's never stopped you before."

Hope ignored the snide comment and flipped the page, when Snow stood up and stretched.

"I have to go take a piss. Any idea where the bathrooms are?"

"The nearest one that I saw was probably way down that way." Hope pointed to his right without looking up from the book. "Just hurry up or I may leave without you if I see a cab coming."

"Alright, I get it. I'll be back!" Snow then went off in the direction Hope had pointed at.

Hope sighed as he returned to his book. He folded his right leg onto his knee and flipped a page, trying to concentrate with all the hustle and bustle going on around him. He flexed down his eyebrows into a scowl and a vein popped out in his forehead. Hope was getting very irritated with those around him who just let their kids run in throughout the station or who played various types of street music and trying to make an honest gil. Deciding what to do, Hope slammed his book shut and moved to another bench while passing beggars and various vagabonds that roamed the location.

He finally found an area with practically no one, save a few workers that were randomly scattered about. Hope let out a refreshing breath of air and flipped open his history book to the page that he had dog-eared at the top corner. He enjoyed old fables that were told down the lineage of various tribes of Gran Pulse and of course continued to read up on the varying histories of each and every one of those tribes. The book he had in his hands possessed all the knowledge that he needed to know.

All of this peace, though; the beautiful silence was interrupted by a female voice. One that came off as a kind of scream. Hope, initially surprised by the voice, looked up from his book for just a few seconds until it died off. He loosened his muscles in his shoulders and put his eyes back on the book, reading the endless lines and looking at the bright and colorful pictures put on the numerous pages.

When he was about to flip a page, he was grabbed by his shirt and pinned up against the wall, having him drop the book. The man who was holding him up shook him violently.

"Give me your money, kid!" The man took out a knife and pointed it at him while still holding Hope up with the other arm. The robber was obviously a strong man.

Hope, although first a bit fearful of the man calmed down and let out a smooth breeze of air. "I don't have any money, sir."

The burglar was shaking. "Just give me your Goddamn _money!_" Hope looked down and saw a purse in the man's hand, probably from the woman he stole it off of.

"Sir, I'm going to have to ask that you let me go." Hope said this rather coolly.

"Are you trying to threaten me?! Who's the one with the knife here, kid?!"

Hope sighed and grabbed a hold of the man's arm. The robber was a bit dazed and confused by Hope's actions, so he just stood there with a young boy having a grasp on him.

"_Blizzara._" Hope muttered this under his breath, and then a cool sensation came onto the man's arm. It started working its way up and into his body, eventually reaching his head. Hope then stepped out of the way and let go of the man's arm to let the spell finish the work, eventually putting him in a suit of ice completely.

"Sorry. I told you to let go." Hope rubbed the back of his head. "I'll be sure to call the police and tell them to get you out of here soon." He reached into his pocket in search for a phone when he heard the same female yell-only this time, it sounded as if it was joyous.

"Oh my goodness! What happened?" A red-headed woman with a thick accent said this. She ran frantically over to the man who was literally frozen in place. She flicked the ice coming off the man only for it to remain solidly in place. She giggled a little bit at the sight until she saw something dangling around the man's arm. "My purse!" She took it off the man and held it tight to her chest. In response to his criminal actions, she stuck her tongue out at him.

Hope stared at her in amazement. _Who the hell is this woman? She's all over the place with her emotions!_ Even though he thought this, he still looked over her. She, in his eyes, was probably the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. He hadn't really thought about dating any women yet as he focused more on his studies than the female species. There were girls who were interested in him before, but by the time he had even given the matter any consideration, they had already moved on to date another man. Hope didn't really care for this as he probably wouldn't have been able to spend much time with his would-be girlfriends anyway.

But this girl! He couldn't comprehend why he felt this way especially towards this girl. Hope didn't even know the woman's origin let alone her name! All he could do was study her from her red hair to her pink halter top, from her orange and yellow skirt to her beige boots, it all seemed just so endlessly flawless and perfect! She was a thin woman and actually just a little bit taller than Hope, probably just by an inch. He only saw this by looking into her piercing green eyes.

He would've looked over her more if she had not asked for his attention.

"Hello? Pulse to human, you there?" She leaned down a little bit and waved in front of his eyes, flashing a sweet smile his way.

"O-Oh!" Hope turned away and blushed. "I'm sorry." He let out a nervous and fake laugh to go along with it. "I guess I wasn't paying attention."

"Ah, it's alright!" The woman giggled and kept on playfully leaning from heel to toe. She looked back towards the ice-covered man. "Did you do this?"

_Shit!_ Hope had completely forgotten about that as he was too mesmerized by the woman in front of him. She would probably run away from him as soon as he told her and that would be the end of his chances. But there's really no way around it; she should obviously know the truth by now, so he decided to come clean.

Hope took in a deep breath. "Y…Yeah, I did that." He scratched the back of his head, still not daring to make eye contact with the woman.

Unexpectedly, he felt two arms envelop him into a warm hug. His eyes went as wide as dinner plates as she pulled him in and rested her head on his. He could smell something sweet on her, but couldn't figure out what it to be, so he just decided to let his mind go free and relax while indulging in this perfect bliss.

"Thank you so much! You got my purse back for me!"

_Well, more like he was going to kill me otherwise- hey wait a minute! What the hell am I doing?!_ Hope got out of the woman's bear-like hug, instantly regretting it as he wished that he could stay alongside her forever. First and foremost though, he had to figure out who exactly this woman was.

"I appreciate the sentiment, but may I ask what your name is before you go and start hugging me?" Hope said, still not looking her in the eyes.

"Oh, duh! How silly of me. My name's Oerba Dia Vanille." She extended her hand out to Hope. "Everyone calls me Vanille, though."

Hope slowly extended his hand and grabbed hers with it, shaking it but still looking almost the opposite way of Vanille. "M-My name's Hope. Hope Estheim." He gulped heavily as he felt a sweat bead go down his head. He had never been this nervous before in his entire life. Not even when his parents said the phrase _you're going to Pulse for your studies._

They finished shaking hands and let go, letting each return to their respective sides. They stood there in awkward silence for a few moments, Hope wondering what he should say and Vanille just letting her mind wander with nothing else to do.

Finally, one of them spoke up. "So you're a magician, huh?"

Hope was caught off-guard by the question. "Uh, um, yeah! Yeah, I guess you could say that."

"That's kind of taboo, isn't it?"

Hope shifted uncomfortably. "You could say that. I call it unique."

Vanille laughed again. Her laugh, her laugh, her LAUGH! Hope couldn't get it out of his head no matter how hard he tried! "Well, you know where I'm from." Hope did, figuring out the whole tribal name of Oerba bit. "What about you?"

"I'm, uh, actually from Cocoon." Hope was getting a little more situated with what was going on and felt more comfortable talking to her. "More specifically, a city known as Palumpolum."

"Oh! So you're from up above, huh?" Vanille asked this in a very intrigued tone.

"Yeah. I'm going to school here in Titanus, actually."

"Really? I go to school here too!"

Hope felt an oncoming surge of blood going to his head. He prayed, as he did a number many more times before, to the Goddess above that she wasn't in the same school. It would make his life an almost literal hell! He would have to make sure that he went about his day dodging her in fear that his true feeling might be conveyed! Hope couldn't ruin a good friendship in the works for such a small thing!

"Oh r-really? Th…That's great." Hope was still reciting the prayer in his head.

Vanille looked to have an idea suddenly come down upon her as she started looking through her purse quickly. She found a small piece of paper and a pen and started writing digits down on it.

Hope looked down in a bit of shock and awe. _Oh Maker, please don't let that be her…_

She handed him the piece of paper and, sure enough, it was her phone number. Hope looked down upon it as if he had received both a divine gift from the powerful beings above and an eternal curse from the same source. He could feel himself trembling a little bit, so he tried his best to stay still and keep a straight face.

"Keep in touch, alright? I've got to go. _**Ciao!**_" Vanille then started running off away from Hope, passing the ice man and going on up a flight of stairs.

Before he could come into realization terms of what had just happened, Snow came up to him, out of breath. "Sakes, Hope! You nearly gave me a heart attack when I saw you weren't there! What in the hell happened with you?"

Hope said nothing, as he was still in a state of pure unknowing.


	3. Titanus Academy

"Taxi!" Snow yelled out to the road and waved his arm to signal the oncoming white vehicle. It had a number tag on it and an imprint that said "Titanus Travel Service." Hope circled around and asked the driver to open the trunk so they could put their bags back there. The driver happily complied and soon the back was full and the duo was in the back seat of the cab and told the driver to head to Titanus Academy.

"Titanus Academy, huh?" The driver said this in a gruff voice. "So you kids are some type of scholars?"

"He is. I'm not." Snow said earnestly. "I'm more of the partier type."

The taxi driver shifted around in his seat. "I wouldn't set your fantasies on that anytime soon, kid. Titanus ain't exactly the friendliest place for bullshitters."

"We'll work it out somehow."

Hope put his hand to his forehead. _Goodness, I'm going to be expelled, aren't I?_

The driver dug out a cigarette and put it in his mouth. "Whatever you say, kid; it's your funeral." The man then began patting himself down for a lighter. He checked his glove compartment too and found nothing. "Damn, a good smoke and no fire to be found." He shook his head.

Snow and Hope were in the back seat watching the man search for his not available cigarette lighter. Snow nudged Hope in the shoulder and whispered to him. "Light it for him."

"What?"

"_Light it for him._"

"I'm not going to use my magic for that! It's morally wrong on so many levels."

"If you do that he might give us a free ride."

Hope thought about this for a few moments, wondering if his ethics would still be held up even if he did this one thing. He confirmed such a matter shouldn't be so bad, so he leaned forward and tapped the driver on the shoulder.

"What do ya want, kid?"

"You need a light?" Hope asked, then snapping his fingers to make a small fire appear on the tip of his index.

The driver was a little surprised. "Jeez, so you're one of them wizard-types?"

Hope nodded. "It's technically wrong of me to do this, but if you need it so urgently, I'm willing."

The man in the driver's seat let out a laugh. "Well tie me up and call me a son-of-a-bitch! Thanks kid!" He carefully put the then dormant cigarette into the small fire. He put it quickly back in his mouth and puffed on it a couple times, letting smoke pour out the window. "What say we call this even and you don't tell my management that I gave you a free ride, huh?"

"Alright!" Snow grabbed Hope by the shoulders and shook him about in a sense that a feeling of victory had overcome the both of them.

"You kids are alright. What're your names?" The driver shifted the car out of park and into drive, then going out onto the main road and joining the busy traffic.

"Snow Villiers."

Hope was a little hesitant. "Hope Estheim."

"Really? Both sound a little-"

"If you say girly, I'll set you on fire." Hope said rather annoyed.

The driver shut up and directed his next sentence towards Snow. "Did I hit a sore spot or something?"

"He's not too happy with his name."

"I would be less happy with _your_ name than his." The driver braked suddenly, cursing out another driver on the road for cutting him off.

"You get used to it." Snow shrugged. "So what about yours?"

The driver flipped his turn signal on to head right at an intersection. "The name's Roman Craw. I've been driving around these streets for the past fifteen years." He inhaled heavily on his cigarette, letting the smoke swirl around in his lungs.

"Roman is kind of fancy for a cab driver, wouldn't you say?" Hope asked whimsically.

"Oh come off it ya little prick." Roman objurgated with a smile as he flipped off another driver on the road as he was turning.

This was all just badinage to them. None of this talk was being taken very seriously and they all knew it. Roman continued to share stories of some of the people that he had picked up over the years even though it was against company policy to share said information with other customers. He let one loose of a prostitute that tried to pay him with "pleasurable services" instead of cash, so he agreed. Roman then said it had to be in a place that he wanted and she, of course, said yes to that arrangement. He then drove her to the police station and dropped her off in front of it and told her to have a nice day. Snow and Hope had a sneaking suspicion that that was probably one of his prouder moments as a cab driver for the city. Before Roman could speak of another story, he had reached the area that they wanted. Both of the younger men were disappointed as they were agog with wanting to listen to another one of his taxi experiences.

"Well, here we are kiddies." Roman took out another cigarette and leaned back in his seat to look at Hope. "Hey Hope, could you do me a favor?" He shook the fresh blunt about.

Hope took in a deep sigh. "We better be getting more for this if I'm just going to be your personal source of lighter fluid." He then snapped his fingers again and caused a gentle blaze to ignite on his fingertips.

Roman put the cigarette in the flames and then quickly put it in his mouth, letting his mind wander. "Well, I've got a proposition for ya."

Snow sat back. "Shoot."

"I'll give both of you my number. I like the two of you, so if you ever need a ride, don't hesitate to call."

Hope looked elated and then confused all of a sudden. "So what do you want in return?"

"Nothin'. You guys have probably been some of the better customers I've had going in and out of this cab. Where're you all from anyway? No polite kids like yourself could've been born on Pulse."

"Yeah, we're from Cocoon." Snow confirmed.

"How is it up there? On the world above."

"Nice, you could say. But with how small it is and the cities being built by the same people in the same government, it gets pretty repetitive." Hope told Roman.

"So it ain't all shits and giggles either, huh?"

Both of the boys shook their heads and Roman let out a sigh. "Guess nothin' can be perfect after all." The cab driver looked at his watch. "Well, you better get your stuff out and get goin'. My shift ends in half an hour and I need to get this thing back to the garage before it's over."

The two started fishing their luggage out of the back of the car. After he had all of his material, Hope went over to the driver's window and handed him ten gil.

Roman pushed the money away. "C'mon, kid; the ride was free."

"It just wouldn't fit right with my conscience." Hope said with a smile.

The man behind the wheel stared at the money for a few moments and then cautiously took it from Hope's gloved hands. "Thanks, kid. You guys aren't half bad." Roman said this with a giant smile spreading across his face. "I'll see ya around, alright?"

"Yeah. Thanks again for the ride!" Hope walked away from the vehicle and started heading towards the school's grounds.

"Don't mention it!" Roman yelled this out the window as he drove away with his arm extended, waving a nonchalant goodbye at the two.

Snow walked up alongside Hope. They walked through the front gate to the school together and then looked about the campus. There were very few dorms about. It gives the idea that the school only accepts about 300 people annually. There were many classrooms spread among the campus. The school gave out many class options from whether you're interested in athletics or computer science. Snow tried to sign up for the most amounts of physical fitness classes as possible, where Hope decided to take the intellectual side.

"So what do we do first?" Snow asked as he read a sign that welcomed them to Titanus Academy.

"We ought to find our room, wouldn't you say?" _And then I'll find my hiding spots and I'll be all set._ Hope looked straight ahead as he rolled the luggage along on the cement.

"Yeah, I guess so. Isn't there some type of welcoming ceremony later?"

"I'd really rather not go to that. It's more of a waste of time than anything."

Snow looked down at him. "Hope Estheim not wanting to go to a school event that is even kind of recommended for students to attend." He grabbed Hope by the shoulder. "Alright, what happened?"

Hope looked up at him. "What are you talking about?"

"C'mon, something happened and you don't want to tell me about it. Is it about freezing that guy earlier? If it is, you shouldn't feel guilty about it. He was robbing you, after all."

Hope thought about it. "Y-Yeah! That's it!" He quietly let out a sigh of relief. Snow wouldn't let him hear the end of it if he knew a girl was on his mind. What's more, she was one that he didn't even know more than an hour ago!

"Well we're going to get you comfortable here, buddy. You need to let out some stress and just relax. Just be careful when and where you use your magic and you will be fine."

"That's easy for you to say. You don't have to worry about things like that. You're the size of a Behemoth!"

Snow shrugged. "Mother nature was kind to me with how maturity hit me early. It looks like it just came around the block for you."

"I don't know if I can take an entire year here with you."

"You'll get used to it. Now let's go and find that dorm."

Snow grabbed Hope by the collar and started dragging him along towards one of the dorms. The complex he started towards was marked with a giant letter "B" on the wall. When they got to the steps, Snow let go of Hope and they continued on upwards. They entered the door only to go to see a hallway lined with doors. There was nobody in said hallway, so the two proceeded onwards. They walked by mostly closed doors with sounds coming from the inside that sounded like a bunch of things being dropped or moved around. Only a few people actually decided to move in yesterday, which would have been significantly smarter, so later on they still saw more kids in their age group carry on with unpacking and renovating their rooms. The young men proceeded up the stairs twice to make it to the third floor; the top floor. They saw a wooden door marked with the number "134" in a golden brown and Snow rapped a few knocks on it. Hope checked the number on the paper to make sure the two numbers matched and confirmed they did, so he reached into his pocket and used the card key that they had given them. He gave Snow his and then he swiped his own, changing the little orb of light in the electronic security system from an ominous red to a welcoming green. Snow turned the knob and the door swung open inwardly.

Inside they were amazed by the accommodations. Although small in nature, the school had no problem with providing the students with pieces of decor fit for pleasing a tyrant. They provided a television that spanned the wall to at least 71 inches. The floor plan was open, giving room for many people (ideas of various drunken parties instantly popped into Snow's head). The furniture provided a couch, a love seat, a recliner and two additional chairs. When they looked into the kitchen, they saw the cooking ware was all stainless steel. There were three separate bedrooms with queen-sized beds in each one. One of them was smaller than the other two, giving the idea of a guest bedroom. There were three full bathrooms equipped inside of another door inside each of the bedrooms.

Snow chuckled a little bit in complete and utter disbelief. "I'm going to start unpacking my stuff. Any room that you prefer?"

"I'll take the one on the left, if you don't mind." Hope smiled back at him. It never really mattered to him, but for some reason the room on the left just felt more right than the other ones.

"Alright. I'll be back out in a little while. You may want to start unpacking yourself." Snow then disappeared into his room and shut the door.

Hope decided to heed the older man's advice and go start unpacking. First he went over to check and make sure the door to their apartment was locked. It was after a bit of a struggle that he finally got the door to lock. He then went to his room and then locked the door behind him, going through the same process.

The platinum-blonde boy let out a contented sigh. He went over to his bed and just collapsed on top of it, closing his eyes and letting warmth spread throughout him. He could only enjoy this happiness for a short while as Snow would be tapping on his door to tell him to come so they could go to the opening semester ceremony. It wasn't something Hope was particularly fond of doing, but he knew that it was something of a recommendation nonetheless. He sat back up and saw a faint glow of light radiating from behind the curtains on the window. Hope thought that the room could use a little light to shine in.

He walked over to the window and pulled the curtains to the side. He felt how warm the sun was on him. Hope couldn't believe that he regretted that he came here. In fact, he was almost forgetting about…

_Vanille? Wait a minute, is that __**Vanille?!**_ Hope looked across from his window to see the very woman that he saw in the train station not just an hour or so ago fill his line of vision. She was busy unpacking and putting her clothes in her dresser. Hope looked away in embarrassment as he could hardly think of looking at _her_ let alone the clothes that she actually puts on—especially her undergarments. _Damn! She just has to reappear as soon as I was forgetting about her!_ He could feel himself blushing even with his head turned away from the sight of her.

Hope continued to do so until he thought he heard something: it was her voice! In both despair and delight, he looked forward to see her half-hanging out of her respective window. She was waving at him and, from what he could tell by the movement of her mouth, was yelling "Hey!" at the top of her lungs as if to get his attention. Hope saw no way around this as he obviously had made eye contact, acknowledging that he knew she was there. He deeply sighed and opened the window and stuck his upper half out of it.

"Hey Hope!" She said smiling. "Fancy meeting you here!"

"Yeah…uh, sure." Hope still wasn't all that confident when talking to her.

"Why do you look so sad?" She asked him. "Aren't you excited to see me?"

_Are you kidding? I'm about to blow my freaking stack with how much I wanted to see you!_ "Um, yeah." Hope kind of shrugged.

"You look like you could use some cheering up." Vanille put her hand under her chin, trying to think of an idea. She finally snapped her fingers on her free hand. "I got it! I'll come over!"

Hope kept up his happy look on top of his grim feelings underneath. He really did not need this right now with all the things that were going on in his mind he wouldn't be able to concentrate while Vanille's trying to comfort him.

_I need to get out of here._ Hope quickly made his way out the door and rapped on Snow's door across the hall.

The grown man answered it except without his trench coat and snow cap on. "There's no way in hell that you're done already. I just got done with my clothes."

Hope had no time to explain his situation. "You wanna go somewhere? C'mon, let's go somewhere. Don't know, don't care, but let's just go." He grabbed his friend by the arm and started leading him out of their apartment.

"Wait, Hope! What the hell are we doing?" Snow was still being pulled along with Hope who now had them outside their apartment. Hope shut the door and waved his key card over the security system and the light turned from green to red.

"C'mon, you told me to be spontaneous and more out there. Well this is me being more out there. Let's just get out there and do whatever the fuck we want." Hope gestured with his free arm upwards. He didn't say any of this with a smile.

Snow knew something was wrong right then. Hope rarely cursed to that kind of extreme. Anything belong the usual words of damn and hell was something serious. Snow pulled his arm away from the smaller man.

"What's going on, Hope? What happened?" The grown blonde interrogated the younger man.

Hope turned around and faced Snow. "Uh, well I, uh…"

As if to answer his question for him—and precisely on cue—he heard a voice come up right behind him, shocking him to the point where he almost jumped.

"Hi, Hope!" Vanille said to him. "I came over like I said I would! Were you going somewhere?"

_Lord, she's fast!_ Hope turned around rather cautiously. "H-Hello Vanille."

He could practically _hear_ Snow smirk behind him as he nudged the younger boy in the back. "Hope, aren't you going to introduce me to this wonderful young lady?" Snow asked this sarcastically of Hope, who was about to turn around and send him flying.

"Snow," he began, rather annoyed, "this is Vanille. Vanille, this is Snow."

Vanille and Snow shook hands. "Nice to meet you!" Vanille told the man.

"Same." Snow said simply. He folded his arms and scratched his nose. "So, uh…" Snow was trying to hold back his case of the giggles. "How…How do you and Hope here know each other?"

"We just met back at the station, actually! Some random burglar took my purse and Hope here froze him and got it back for me!" She grabbed a hold of Hope's shoulders and shook him playfully.

"Oh? So you're a hero now, eh Hope?" Snow was fighting back his deepened grin as hard as he could as he would just being smug now. "Helping damsels in distress?"

"He's such a good friend! I'm so glad that he lives just across a window from me!" Vanille seemed to latch onto Hope's shoulders harder.

"Well I'm glad that you two…met." Snow accidentally let out a little snort. "I'll be going on ahead." He patted Hope on the shoulder. "See you in a little bit." The gargantuan of a man then quickly made his way down one flight of stairs and as soon as he hit that final step, Hope could swear that he heard Snow's cackling.

"He was nice!" Vanille put her head on her side in a cute manner.

"Yeah, until you figure out that you have to live with him for the next year." Hope said this with severe sarcasm.

They stood in awkward silence for a little while. Hope couldn't figure out this girl; he doesn't know why he likes her and he doesn't know (other than the incident in the train station) why she kept on clinging to him. They could be considered friends, but as long as these feelings remained he wouldn't be able to look at her just as that. Hope would always think something more of Vanille no matter what it was that was going on.

"Don't you think?" Vanille had evidently just finished saying something.

_Crap, what did she say? What did she say?!_ Hope came to the decision to just agree with her. "Yeah, definitely!" He tried saying this as confidently as possible.

"Really? Ok! From now on, you're my study-buddy!" Vanille hugged him and went from foot to foot gracefully, dragging Hope along in doing it too. She ended the hug as quickly as she had initiated it and took out a pocket watch while clicking it open. "Oh shoot! We better get going; the opening ceremony's going to start soon!" She grabbed onto his wrist and dragged him along down the stairs and to Snow, who was waiting for them. "We can all go together!"

Snow gave her a thumbs up. "Alright, sounds like a plan."

The trio began walking out of the apartment, Vanille leading the front while the two guys walked alongside each other behind her. Snow looked down at Hope, who looked to be wearing an especially despair ridden face after that conversation.

Snow bent down and whispered to Hope in his ear. "You had no idea what you were agreeing to, did you?"

"I didn't think that she would actually start rambling on about something like that to me! What should I do?"

"Go with it kid." Snow smacked him on the back as silently as he could. "You need this anyway."

Hope looked towards Snow in desperation. "No I don't!"

"Uh, yeah, you do. It's your first real friendship outside of yours with me. You don't want to go and screw this up. Besides," Snow trailed off and looked ahead at the red-headed girl. "She's pretty damn cute."

Hope blushed immediately. Snow was being quite the kibitzer today. "D-Don't say that!"

"Might as well clear your schedule; I think you may be booked every night with helping her 'study.'"

"Shut up, Snow!"

The two bickered endlessly behind Vanille, not knowing that the woman could indeed hear every word that they were saying.


	4. Sickness and Health

Hope felt anguish inside him that struck him at his core. "Listen, Snow: don't mention a word of this to Vanille. She's my friend and it would be hell if she knew about this."

Snow was standing alongside the younger man among a crowd of many other students. They were now at the spectator area where the dean of the academy—Sazh Katzroy—would be making his annual opening speech (Vanille went on ahead to the front of the crowd to get a better viewing). He had only been the dean for about three years now but he had developed a reputation for taking the more fragile students under his wing to guide them whenever they were in trouble. He was a very caring man despite the way that he dressed and the rumor that he always carried a pair of pistols on him at all times. The man didn't even seem to be old enough to be a dean for a private school let alone a principal for a public high school. He had an only seven-year-old son name Dajh (word is that he raises the kid on his own and that the wife had left him years ago just a few months after the young boy was born into the family). His age was just closing in on 40, something that he didn't like to be reminded of but likes to remind himself of it all the time by giving out his own catch phrase of "I'm getting too old for this."

"Hope, you're going to have to tell her eventually." Snow turned to the younger man. "I've dated women before and let me tell you for the few that I actually _liked_, I regret that I didn't tell them before they were taken away from me. I have nightmares about it, kid." The blonde man shook his head in disgust with himself.

The platinum-blonde boy put on a little smirk. He knew that Snow was a softy behind his hard outer shell. No matter how much he wanted to hide it behind his stereotypical clichés of smiles and heroism, Snow had a certain bitterness to him that he didn't often reveal. Thankfully the people around them paid no attention as they were all eagerly awaiting the arrival of Dean Katzroy. Hope put his hand on Snow's much broader shoulder.

"Don't worry about your past. You've learnt from your mistakes and I'll probably learn from mine at some point. It's like studying for that final exam, if you think about it. Everyone makes sure that you have all these practice tests to do beforehand, some of which you'll probably fail along the way. Eventually you'll catch on to what you're doing wrong and get it into perfection when you reach that all important moment that determines whether all that hard labor was worth it in the end. _That_," Hope finished, "is what love should be like."

Snow was sort of shocked by the Hope's intellectual response. He actually made some good points despite him not having any prior experience on the subject before. Snow just looked down at the younger and smarter child and tried to convey some type of emotion. The taller man searched for the words he was looking for and at last he had found them about five minutes away.

"Well you're kind of shit out of luck then kid." Snow folded his arms.

"What makes you think that?"

This time is was Snow's turn to smirk and provide some advice on the issue. "I saw it in your eyes; how you were going gaga over her every feature. You couldn't speak for anything at all and didn't even try to interrupt me even though you knew that I was being a total jerk and making an ass out of you. You didn't say anything because you didn't want Vanille to think of you as rude or obnoxious. No matter how much you say you don't want to spend another minute with that girl, I can see in those puppy dog eyes of yours that you can't stand a _second_ away from her. Hope, my good old pal: you are in love with Vanille." Snow pointed at Hope as he finished that last sentence.

Hope stood there stunned by the statement. He didn't get a chance to think it over for he heard a giant sound of applause erupt around him. Apparently Dean Katzroy had taken the podium and waved at the sea of students. He looked just as he did in his profile picture in the pamphlet mailed to each student: a black afro with a mustache and beard look, a long olive color coat over khaki trousers, and black buckled engineer boots. He wasn't your typical run-of-the-mill prim and proper dean. This Katzroy man looked to be actually fun loving despite the job he chose.

Sazh stood at the podium and cleared his throat. He had never gotten used to talking to large groups of people before, but it just came with the territory. The older man took in a deep gasp of air and closed his eyes calmly. After about a minute he opened them and smiled.

"Hello, and welcome to another year here at Titanus Academy. This year we have the largest number of new students in the recent history of the school. I guess I should start off by introducing myself first then to get you all familiar with me and what I'm about. My name is Sazh Katzroy and I am the dean here at Titanus Academy. This is my third year here and I would like to think that I've done a pretty good job so far. Grades have been at an all-time high and there have been fewer reports of misdemeanors in the city of Titanus made by our student body. I expect you all to follow in these footsteps set by previous years.

"I will tell all of you this now: I am a very easy man to get along with. You just respect what I do and I'll respect what you do. You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours, is what I'm saying here. Don't screw around with the principals that we have set in our beings and we'll be just fine. If you're sent to my grounds for any reasons other than a scheduled appointment or to talk about your grades, then I will not be the friendliest man on campus anymore." Sazh finished that last sentence with a very stern look on his face which actually made Snow kind of nervous.

That scowl was soon replaced with the smile that the entire student body was suited to. "So that's all you'll have to hear this old man blabber about until we either have our annual end-of-the-year talk or if there is a urgent meeting that would be required by the entirety of the campus including teachers and other supervisors. These types of meetings aren't usually scheduled and are not a common happenstance, so hopefully you won't have to worry about them that often." He straightened up some of the notes that he had brought up to the stand with him. "That's all I have to say. Remember to always schedule your meetings before coming to see me unless the matter is of the upmost importance. I hope that I won't see any of you in my office for anything other those reasons and make sure to have a wonderful year here at Titanus Academy."

Sazh exited the stage to another round of applause as the student body slowly dispersed. There were just about fifty or so students left lingering around the courtyard, some sitting at the fountain in the center of it and some just sitting on park benches or the lawns that were spread out. Some young couples could be seen necking in all those public places. Some of them even got a little _frisky_ at times. Hope made the command in his own mind to head back to the apartment as it was getting dark out and, to be honest, he didn't want to stick around for Vanille to catch up. So he casually slipped away from Snow, hoping that the older man wouldn't notice.

It turns out he didn't notice, but Vanille sure did. After a quick searching about, she went to Snow to ask him where the platinum and spiky-haired boy went off to. Snow scratched his head and ventured a guess that he went back to their respective dorm. She went on to ask him why he didn't decide to head on back to which he replied that he was going to do some adventuring around the campus. Vanille didn't quite understand what that meant, but she didn't think anything of it as she spun on her heels and headed off towards the two men's complex.

Hope had made it inside their apartment and locked the door behind him. The fair boy threw his key card on their kitchen counter and kicked his shoes off on a mat. He then swiftly made his way to the couch and collapsed onto it. He was so tired from the entirety of what happened all day. Hope closed his eyes and let himself drift off into dreamland.

"Hope? Wake up, sleepyhead!"

Hope opened his eyes slowly to see a blurry image above him. Sitting by his side was Vanille; he could still tell even beyond the fuzziness that his eyes were giving him. Hope rubbed them just to make sure that he wasn't just seeing things and sure enough, she was still sitting there with a goofy smile and those beautiful emerald eyes.

He quickly worked his way up and scooted himself on the opposite end of the couch. "What in the- How in the- How did you get in here?!" Hope pointed at her accusingly.

"Oh, Snow gave me his key card and told me that he'd be off adventuring or something like that. I guess he just wanted me to make sure that you were okay."

Hope could feel the perspiration running down his face. It was his intention when he first arrived here to stay _away_ from situations like this, not for them to come knocking. And what the hell was Snow doing out there anyway that would prompt him to give Vanille the key card?

Vanille leaned in to him and examined Hope closely. "Goodness, are you all right?" She put her hand to his forehead. "You feel so warm!"

Hope got up from the couch at that point and made his way over the kitchen. "I'm fine, I'm fine!" He said this is an unsure tone.

Vanille didn't buy it as she shook her head about. "No, something's definitely wrong with you." It was her turn to get up from the couch. "Why won't you tell me?"

_It's not that I don't want to tell you; I __**can't**__ tell you!_"Al-Alright! You got me!" Hope tried to sell the sick story as much as he could. "I haven't been feeling well. I need to go lye down. If you would excuse yourself from the apartment, then I would like to go to my bedroom." Hope quickly turned and went into his bedroom and locked the door behind him, letting out a breath of fresh air. _Might as well and sell it a bit further._ He then climbed under the covers on his bed and closed his eyes.

"Hello? Snow?"

_What the- What's Vanille doing? _

"Snow? Are you there?"

Hope sat up in a cold sweat (at this point he thought he actually was getting sick). He slowly crept over to the door and put his ear against it.

"Oh, okay! Good! Um, it's just that I think that Hope is sick. I was wondering if you know what I should do." Vanille paused, probably listening for a response from Snow.

_How in the hell did she even get his phone number?_ And then he remembered: he had left his cell phone out on the counter.

"Yeah? Alright, I'll make sure to do that. What time do you think you'll get back?" There was a long pause. "Okay, I'll go to my place and pick out a few things. Mind if I sleep on the couch?" Another pause. "Oh, there's a guest bedroom? I guess I didn't notice it back at my apartment. Alright, well you have fun out there and be careful. I'll see you tomorrow." Hope heard the phone snap shut. He responded by quickly jumping back into the bed and frantically pulling the covers back over him.

Not soon enough either. Vanille opened the door and peeked inside. "Hope?" His response what a little bit of groaning. "I'm going to go over and get a few things from my place. I'll be right back. Snow said he wouldn't be back until morning." She then shut the door and as soon as Hope heard that click of the door that said that she left the apartment entirely, he quickly got up out of bed and went into the kitchen, scrambling for his cell phone. He went through his contacts and dialed Snow's phone number.

The grown man answered a few seconds later. "What is it now, Vanille?"

"Snow, you bastard! What are you doing out there?!" Hope yelled at the man angrily over device.

"Oh, Hope! So you're all right after all!" The grown man said with a little laugh. Hope could hear other voices in the background. "Why were you faking being sick?"

"I was hoping she would go away!"

"Hope, Vanille's kind and gentle. When did it ever cross your mind that she would go away when you were faking a sickness?"

Hope felt kind of embarrassed. "Never mind that! Why aren't you here?!"

"Well, there was this party I found that was going on and there were girls in bikinis and-"

"Okay, Snow. I think I get the point." Hope rubbed his eyes.

"Don't worry about it Hope. This will only help you out in the long run." There was a pause and a girlish scream in the background. "Sorry buddy gotta go! Drunk girls taking their tops off!" Then all Hope heard was the dial tone.

Hope let out a sigh. Unbelievable. He couldn't exactly blame Snow for his wants and desires. The man was just about to enter into true adulthood and the fact that he hasn't slept with a girl yet is a phenomenon in itself. Tonight may be that night or Snow might truly be saving himself for that someone special. Hope didn't know or care, so he just went along with what was given to him and went back to his bed, making sure to leave the phone almost exactly where he had found it before.

It was five minutes later when he heard Vanille barge in, slamming the door shut behind her. Hope heard a giant hit against the floor and ventured a guess that it was her overnight bag.

Whether he agreed with it or not, Snow was right. Hope needed to endure this to help things out just a little bit. He may not be her boyfriend, but all he wanted was to be there to protect Vanille no matter what happens.

Hope got up to the sound of cabinets opening and closing. He shuffled his feet on towards the door and opened it. _Vanille must be cooking._ The young boy snuffled up a bit. Perhaps he really _was_ getting sick.

He entered the kitchen to an enthusiastic shriek. Vanille was apparently getting lonely as, not caring whether he was sick or not, she pulled him into a deep hug immediately. The blanket that Hope was dragging along with him was instantly dropped due to this. He couldn't tell whether he was blushing at this point or whether it was the fever, but he didn't care. This was even more meaningful than the hug that took place at the station. Something did occur to him though.

"Um, Vanille?"

"Yeah?"

"Shouldn't you worry about getting sick? I don't want you to be bedridden because of me."

"Don't worry about it. I doubt I'll catch anything anyway." Vanille departed from the hug. There was something that was bugging _her_ now. She had heard almost every single word that was exchanged between him and Snow while they were walking to the ceremony. Or perhaps what she heard was her ears playing tricks on her again. It had happened before and she wouldn't have been surprised if it happened again. But for some reason she didn't want to believe that. Deep down it felt like her heart was telling her to go for it and it'll be hunky-dory and the two would live happily ever after. It was all very odd and strange.

Vanille shook herself out of her thoughts long enough to form a functioning sentence. "S-So what did you want for dinner? I'm thinking about making a roast, but I wasn't too sure if you wanted it or not."

Hope deliriousness must've been helping him some. It felt easier talking to this woman. "That sounds fine." He held onto his head in pain. "You wouldn't happen to have any pills in your purse or your bag, would you?"

Vanille almost read his thoughts because as she was looking through her bag she tossed him a bottle of pain relievers. "That ought to help you. Just put it in on the guest's sink after you're done." She then took out an apron and tied it on her. It was one that you would see just about anywhere: plain tan and in red text it read "Kiss the Cook." Hope was very tempted to take that offer up.

The red-haired girl noticed his looking at the apron and gasped. "Oh darn! I must've grabbed my dad's apron by mistake!"

That almost made Hope throw up. "Well I'm glad to know that isn't yours." He took off the cap to the pills and spilled out three of the larger pink pills into his, for the first time this entire trip, uncovered hand. Hope proceeded to put them in his mouth and swallowed them without chewing as instructed.

"I'm going to put these up now, alright?" Hope rattled the bottle and pointed to the bathroom. Vanille nodded to him as she started chopping up some vegetables. When he started down the hallway, she clenched her heart. Vanille knew that if it wasn't for these dumb thoughts that were stirring around in her head she'd have all the materials cut up and into the pot by now. She tried the best that she could to concentrate but ended up cutting her finger in the end. The clumsy woman put her thumb up to her mouth and started sucking on it. She went on and felt her forehead. Sure enough, it was warm. She was coming down with the same bug that hope had.

"Now don't tell me that you cut your finger?" Hope leaned casually up against the wall. There was something different about his aura. "And are you checking yourself for a fever too? Gosh, I told you that you were going to get sick!" He hit his head with the palm of his hand. Hope went over to the stove and turned off the top burners. He then took initiative and grabbed Vanille by the wrist, dragging her towards the couch and laying her down on it. Hope grabbed the remote and sat down at one end with having Vanille rest her head on his lap. He turned on the TV to some nature program.

Vanille stared in amazement at the young man now above her that was flipping through the channels. _How can someone change like that so suddenly? Is this the real him or some ruse that he's using?_

"Uh…Hope?"

Hope had on a goofy smile. "Yeah?"

"How many of those pills did you take?"

"I only took three originally, but the effects weren't taking place quick enough. I think I took about, oh…let's say about five more."

_That explains it._ "Hope, you aren't supposed to take that many pills in a single day. It'll only backfire on you tomorrow."

Hope shrugged. "I don't care. I get to sit here with you without looking like a total idiot and let me tell you that that's a much bigger accomplishment than it seems."

Vanille felt her heart flutter. "Are you sure that those aren't the pills talking?"

"Who knows? It probably is, but it's something we won't find out for a while now will we?"

That sat there in silence after that. Vanille was very content with herself at the time, so she fell asleep rather quickly. Hope, on the other hand, discreetly changed the channel to some love advice talk show. He tried to absorb as much information as he possibly could from the broadcast until he felt his eyes begin to glaze over. Hope eventually gave up and turned the TV off. He got up and gently put Vanille's head on the sofa. The still-weak man scratched the back of his head until he decided there was nothing else to it. He picked Vanille's dormant body up and carefully carried it the bedroom. He made sure to get the woman tucked in properly and put a glass of water next to her on a coaster just in case if she woke up in the middle of the night. He looked down at his triumph with great pleasure, but Hope succumbed to his tiredness and lumped down across the foot of the bed. He didn't even try to make an effort to fight what his muscles needed.

* * *

"Hope? I'm back." It was 6:00 A.M. when the roommate of Hope Estheim returned. His voice rang throughout the apartment to no response. He saw unpacked and spoiled meat on the kitchen counter, something that he decided he would deal with later. There was an orange travel bag on the floor that was unzipped.

_Probably Vanille's._ Snow Villiers took a gander around the area to see that Hope's door was closed while Vanille's wasn't. He didn't rush over to the door, but instead quickly and quietly walked over to it and took a little look inside. Snow saw the two in the bed together—although seated about quite differently from one another—and smiled. He closed the door quietly, although it made a little squeaking sound.

"Good job kid. Good job indeed." Snow went on to the couch where he found the remote and switched on the television.

* * *

**Trapex here with another chapter to the story! I felt really motivated to write this chapter (for those wondering, I already had the three chapters before written and I had this one started out before I submitted it originally which explains why they're getting out so quickly one after another) and I'm glad that it's finished! No, the story isn't. I'll tell you, this looked to be an ideal spot to end the story on, but I wouldn't be getting the full effect out of it otherwise. Anyway, I'm hoping that you enjoyed the chapter and please make sure to review with any suggestions, ideas, or critiques that you have about the story. It's always appreciated!**


	5. Living

"G'mornin, gloomy." Snow sipped on a cup of coffee as he leaned up against the granite on the island counter. Hope had bed-head and he knew it, but considering how tired and confused he was right now all he wanted was some caffeine.

"When'd you get in Snow?" Hope began pouring some of the black liquid from its glass pot into a white cup.

"About four or so. I went to sleep for a few hours and here we are at seven." Snow gestured with his arm as if three hours had created a brand new glorious world with a functioning sun and everything to go with it. Hope just saw the same dull and annoying glow of the light bulbs on the ceiling.

_Poor little guy. He probably doesn't even realize that his lover-girl was in the same bed as him._ Snow was right in thinking this as Hope had no recollection of any of the events from last night. He just remembered taking a few more of those pills and anything beyond that memory was just flying past his cranium. Even Vanille's coming over slipped his thoughts.

"So how'd the party go?" Hope readjusted his hair so it looked slightly normal and lapped up the coffee.

"Pretty good. Girls taking their tops off, orgies in the apartments—y`know, the weird shit that should be expected of with me around."

"Without you taking part in them, I'm guessing."

"Right on the money as always." Snow then gulped down the rest of his coffee when it was still warm enough to taste good and cool enough to actually drink in decent amounts. "So! How'd things get along with Vanille, huh?"

Hope almost did a spit take as he choked on his coffee. _Damn! Damn, damn, damn myself!_ "Uh, things went well. I did my respective part and did what I was told while she did the same."

"Cut the shit. What really happened?"

Hope leaned back against the refrigerator and inhaled. "I'm kind of wondering that myself. I took some pills and then I don't remember shit past it."

Snow almost burst out laughing. As a matter of fact, he did after a little while of trying to hold it in. He slapped the counter in his amusement and wiped a tear of joy away from his eyes. "Oh man, Hope! That is hilarious."

"What's so funny about it?" Hope didn't get the blonde man's sense of humor.

"The way it sounded made it seem like she slipped you a roofie."

Hope almost choked on his coffee for a second time within a five minute period. "D-Don't say that! God, that's humiliating!"

"What? The fact that I thought of the very thing or that you may've been sexually assaulted by that girl in the guest bedroom?"

"Both actually!" Hope's eyes were wide open and he shook his head derogatively.

"I probably shouldn't mention this right now. It would probably give you a heart attack if I told you what I saw."

Hope was curious and scared to ask at the same time. He tapped the white ceramic holding his caffeine. "Okay, I'll bite: what did you see Snow?"

Snow declined the offer to tell. "Nah, I think I'll let Vanille tell you."

Almost on cue, Vanille walked into the kitchen in all her glory. She had taken out her hair ties to let her curly red hair flow and bounce about whenever she took a step. Even when the woman was tired, Hope thought that she looked so happy and beautiful. He felt his heart skip a beat when she entered the room. He had no idea how he acted last night as it was all just one giant blur and was very scared that he acted like an ass.

But all these things were diminished when she came up to hug him. It was a lot gentler than the normal ones that she gave out (tight and not letting you breath).

"Thanks for taking care of me last night." Vanille said to him softly. Hope was dumbfounded by what was going on. Even Snow didn't know how to react.

"Uh…isn't it supposed be the other way around? I didn't even do anything!"

"I accidentally caught your cold. I tried cooking for you but you wouldn't let me, so you forced me to lie on the couch where we watched TV for a little while. I guess you carried me into the guest bedroom because when I woke up, that's where I was."

"Hold on a sec." Snow put his hand up to his mouth. "Hope _carried_ you?" He then looked at his best friend questionably. "So how much meat have you been packing underneath that skinny figure, huh?"

Hope mouthed to Snow to shut his trap. "Jeez, what did those pills _do_ to me?" Hope said jokingly.

Vanille giggled a little bit. She was obviously still sick from the night before while Hope on the other hand seemed to recover rather quickly.

"You sound horrible." Hope said this bluntly.

"Oh thank you."

"At least you still have another week to heal up before classes start."

"Yeah, I guess so."

After a moment of silence it was only then that Hope and Vanille noticed they were still entwined in a very friendly hug between them (Snow kept an eye on this the entire time and found it very amusing and felt humbled with his self). They released from the hold on each other and awkwardly laughed about it even though it was all so obviously tense on both sides.

"So Hope, I wanted to ask the two of you something." Vanille pointed towards the two men.

"What is it?" Hope leaned back against a counter.

"Um, I don't have a roommate. She ended up canceling on me at the last minute and went on to join the military." The Oerbian girl twiddled her thumbs. "I don't enjoy sleeping alone, so I was wondering if you two would mind if I moved in."

Hope responded with his mouth being agape, but Snow was sensible enough to respond to the woman's request. "Sure Vanille. I have no problems with it, do you Hope?" Snow had to punch the turquoise-eyed boy on the shoulder to bring him back to reality.

"Yeah! Of course!" Hope fumbled over these words with a sudden shock and Vanille laughed. He turned away, blushing as hard as ever. "Y-You can move in here if you want…Vanille…" The boy trailed off and scratched the back of his head. "I-I need to g-go get my shower. Make yourself at home, Vanille." He rushed past her and went into his bedroom, locking the door behind him. He didn't waste any time shedding his clothes and turning on the shower to let it warm the water up. He grabbed a sponge from his backpack along with some shampoo and body wash. Once inside the shower, he relaxed, letting all the pressure that had built up inside him out.

_Vanille's going to be living here from now on, huh?_ He lathered himself up with some soap, stepping out of the way of the shower droplets in order to apply some on himself. _C'mon, Hope! Get over it! You've lived with at least one woman your entire life! The fact that you're scared shitless whenever talking to one other than someone of authority is ridiculous! _

The boy splashed himself in the face with some ice-cold water from the sink. That shower seemed to clear his mind a little bit of the bizarre events that had taken place. His thinking machine was running at full speed and he could feel it too. He felt confident; he _was_ confident. He dug through his bag and pulled out a black t-shirt that had the blue outline of a supernova on it. To go with it, he found a pair of dark stressed jeans and put them on. Hope put his trademark light blue bandana around his neck and pulled on his gloves. In his bedroom's full-body mirror, he thought he looked like a badass. Maybe it was a little out of his character, but he felt like it was something that he needed to do.

Hope walked out of the room to a gasp from Snow who was brewing up a pot of green tea. The platinum-blonde couldn't help but smirk at the grown man's expression.

"You look…different." Snow said, still stunned by the appearance of his young friend.

"New school, I figured I ought to find a new style to go with it."

"You aren't going to start being a dick because of this getup, are you?"

"Clothes don't change a personality, Snow."

"But will this help you speak to Vanille more easily?"

Hope shrugged. "Maybe. Speak of the devil, where is she?"

"She went on over to get her things." Snow poured three cups of the tea and added some lemon zest to his own.

"Alright. I'll go see if I can help." Hope said with a hint of gladness. "You may want to call the dean to make an appointment to see if we can have an extra key card made for Vanille. Have those cups nice and warm for us when we get back." The child morphing into a man walked to the door when Snow stopped him.

"Hey Hope."

Hope turned around. "Yeah?"

"You're doing great kid." He took a drink of his tea and let out a sound signifying his refreshment.

He shot Snow a smile. "Thanks Snow." Hope then went out and closed the door behind him.

This left Snow alone with his thoughts. He hadn't had much time to think since moving into this godforsaken place, so it was a nice change of pace. In less than twenty-four hours so much had changed in his and Hope's lives: he didn't feel like he needed to cause trouble anymore (maybe because of the threat from Sazh), he was actually doing things nice and productive for other people and, to add the cherry on top of this ice cream mountain, Hope was growing ever-so closer to getting into a serious relationship—a _real_ serious relationship, not the fake ones that Snow had always tried to pull off with random previous amounts of women. That was one thing that he wished actually would change.

He didn't feel an ounce of love or apathy towards any of the drunken, drug-enhanced or plastic women that he saw at that party yesterday. To make this thinking even worse, it was his _**senior year!**_ It was his last chance to do or make anything memorable of himself. Snow punched himself on the back of the head for his uselessness. _Well, you may meet someone in one of your classes you dumb bitch._ Snow groaned loudly, letting his exasperated feeling be known throughout the emptiness of his home away from sweet home. He fell back onto the couch (the poor piece of furniture; it had been only a day and it was probably already bowing down the middle). He thought about his schedule: gym, weight-lifting, political science, Pulsian culture, gym, lunch, a free period, public speaking, and then another round of weight-lifting. _Yeah, I'll meet a girl in that testosterone-filled day._ Snow had come to the point where he had even started becoming sarcastic with himself.

He decided that it was just best to fall back asleep for a while. Snow thought that the two probably weren't going to be officially back for a while.

* * *

**Trapex here with another chapter of Struggling Hope! I hope that you enjoyed this one as it was more of a change of a pace than what I was used to. The next chapter will hopefully be out very soon! I hope this tides you over until then!**


	6. Darkness in All

"Have you always lived on Pulse?"

"Yeah. I was born in Oerba seventeen years ago." Vanille nodded her head.

"Oh really? Just a year older than me then."

"But still on the same grade level."

"Why did you get held back a year?" Hope asked.

"My mother decided to keep me back a year. She claims that I didn't seem mature enough." Vanille said this with a matter-of-fact tone in her voice.

Hope just chuckled. "Well I see where she's coming from."

"Hey!"

Hope shook his head. "When you're my friend, you get things straight-up."

She was frustrated with Hope's sudden ambiguousness. Vanille didn't really care about it though just because Hope had enlisted to help the red-headed woman. He was actually carrying the most between the two which she found a bit past remarkable. Sure, it still wasn't much as she needed to make several more trips back and forth but it was something nonetheless.

"I'm sorry that I couldn't carry any more than this." Vanille shrugged uneasily.

"Don't worry about it. I'm glad I could actually help you for once!" Hope struggled not to show anything troublesome with his physical capabilities. If he could be perfectly honest with her, he was growing fatigued already!

"'For once?' You took care of me, didn't you?"

"But that was when I was all drugged up on whatever the heck you gave me. I should've probably looked at the dosage before I took that many." Hope admitted his mistake.

"Oh, don't be so cynical." Vanille encouraged the young boy. "You know that even some of the greatest minds have made their fair share of mistakes."

Hope smiled. "Yeah, I guess so."

The two were walking along the sidewalk, chatting away merrily. The time that they took to get back to the apartment was probably a lot longer due to this and also another event that Hope thought to be quite the disappointment.

A taller and more muscular man came running towards the two. He had short black hair and from what Hope could tell he was wearing a white shirt and dark blue jeans. The phrase "douche bag" was already ringing about his head and the man reconfirmed his thoughts when he got even closer. He had a five o'clock shadow and a couple of piercings in each of his ears. He was obviously more of the jock type, but Hope wasn't sure what category he would put the jock in. The bigger man seemed more focused on Vanille than him though.

"Hey Vanille." The man said, catching his breath.

"H-Hello." She stared at the man. "Do I know you?"

_Well there's a plus, at least._ Hope let out a puff of air.

The man looked confident when he said his next sentence. "No, but you'll probably wish that you always had."

Hope practically wanted to projectile vomit at this man with the garbage pick-up lines he was trying to spew out to Vanille. Then it occurred to the boy: _This guy's trying to get with Vanille!_

Vanille giggled at the statement. She coughed a little bit. "I'm sorry, but I'm a little bit sick."

"No no, it's completely fine!" The man waved it off. "My name's Kevin Patrick, by the way."

"Nice to meet you Kevin!" Vanille said brightly. "May I ask how you know me?"

"I remember hearing about a red-haired girl from one of my friends and how beautiful she was." _Bullshit._ "I knew I had to find out your name, so I started running around and asking about the campus." _Probably looked her up on the web and thought "I could sleep with this girl," you lying ass._ "And then I saw you and…my God, you looked even more beautiful than I ever thought that you would!"

Hope coughed sarcastically at that last part. Even his bullshit detector was blinking at a high rate whenever this trash was pulled out of a dumb jock's ass. Kevin turned to the young boy.

"I'm sorry…what is your name?"

"His name's Hope! He's a good friend of mine." Vanille said defending Hope. She obviously still had enough common sense not to fall for his tricks.

"Well Hope, could I be a respectful guy and ask that you mosey on? I would like to have a conversation with Vanille here." Kevin pulled Vanille in next to him and it was evident that she was discomforted by it. Or maybe she wasn't.

Hope eventually came to the realization that he probably never had a chance with the girl in the first place. Why in the world he was trying to put up a fort on his social status as a "friend verging onto boyfriend," he didn't know. He let out a sigh.

"Sure, I don't mind." _Hell yes I mind!_ Hope then turned and left the two, heading back to his apartment with her various things. _So much for "new outfit, new confidence." _

Once Hope was safely out of earshot, Kevin turned back to Vanille who had wrestled her way out of his grasp. "So what's his deal?" He pointed back to Hope as he was walking away.

"What do you mean 'his deal?'" She asked the man accusingly.

"He's your gay friend, isn't he?" Kevin asked Vanille as if he knew he would get a positive answer.

"What? Of course not!" Vanille stomped her foot. "Why would you even think that?!"

"Whoa, calm down. He's not important anyway." Kevin went to Vanille's side and pulled her in next to him. "It's just you and me."

"I-I don't think so." Vanille once again made herself removed from the man's side. "Look, it's nice that you like me and think all of these great things, but I'm just not interested, alright?" She was thinking about Hope and what the man's showing up had done to the boy's self-esteem. She didn't want Hope to be discouraged by this small incident! "I have to go now."

Vanille felt a tight grab on her arm. She turned around to see it was in fact Kevin holding onto her forcefully. "I'm sorry, I don't take no for an answer." He then began to drag her by the arm to what looked to be a secluded alleyway.

Vanille saw this and began pulling back. "N-No! Please don't!" She begged the man.

"Shut up, you dumb bimbo! We could've done this the easy way but you just had to defend your faggot of a friend!" He spat at her. Kevin pushed her up against the wall and looked over his prey at which he smiled a devilish smile. "Now we're going to have some fun!"

"No! Hope, please help me!" Her voice was still hoarse from her sickness but it was still loud enough that someone was bound to hear it.

"Oh yeah, you're little friend can help you now with his puny self. Don't resist, you bitch!" He ripped off her skirt, revealing some pink lace underwear. Vanille couldn't believe this was happening to her! She didn't want this! She begged to the Goddess above for this not to happen; for something to prevent it! Vanille thought of all the things that she missed out on. Her first love, her first kiss, her first boyfriend-her first everything.

And then she thought of Hope…

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?!"

The victim and the criminal both looked over to see the source of the voice. Hope had appeared just in the nick of time. He had the most serious look on his face that Vanille had ever seen on him. He looked so angry and discomposed. Hope didn't seem normal.

"God, you little queer! You couldn't just leave things alone, could you?!" Kevin ran up to the man and pushed him backwards onto the ground. Hope didn't lose his focus. He wanted to kill the man, but he decided he didn't want that. No, he just wanted the man to suffer.

"You have done something unforgivable." Hope got up from the ground and patted the dirt off of him. "You tried to rape one of the best girls I've ever met. You tried to steal her innocence from her when she didn't want it."

"What do you know, kid?!" Kevin tried launching a punch at Hope, but was stopped short by an invisible barrier. "What in the hell?"

Hope felt an evil smirk grow across his face. "You like my magic?"

Kevin stood there, stunned. "M-Magic?! Y-You're even freakier than I thought!"

"Well this 'freak' is about to beat the living shit out of you!" Hope punched his hands together. He had promised himself he would never use this spell again after a previous incident that had happened in his lifetime. At this time though, Hope was so blinded by internal rage that he couldn't give a damn less about it. _"__Inferni __Damnatorum __Umbra__!"_

A glow red began radiating from around his feet. Tentacles sprouted from the ground and began wafting about in a circle around Hope, powering the magician up greatly. His entire body began becoming a shade of dark red as the circles began to disintegrate into nothingness. He began shaking majorly and yelling at the top of his lungs. Horns grew out of his head and wings grew from his back, making him look liked a menace as he breath heavily, even at times letting smoke out shoot out of his nostrils. Hope finished the procedure of the spell by stomping the ground, causing an earthquake-like event to form from him as a center point. Kevin took a step back, frightened by the new creature in front of him; he wouldn't call it quite human or a monstrosity.

The thing that was still apparently Hope laughed maniacally. He spoke in what sounded like an auto-tuned voice. "Quite the melancholy, wouldn't you say? Such an innocent looking child is the appearance and yet the very fabric of his good nature is torn apart by those who are cruel and bastardized by the social equivalent of the top chain of the animal kingdom! Why bully those who are stronger than you in spirit and mind as they can torture you far worse than what you can in your physical form?"

Kevin was confused and looked at him in desperation, looking for an opening. "Sh-Shut up!" He launched a punch at the demon before him, who promptly vanished and quickly appeared behind him, casually walking along.

"Do you not know the meaning of these words? You have obviously not caught onto the finer concepts of the less than refined common language! It is laughable how ignorant today's youth can be. I can only pray for your soul that you will burn in eternal hellfire." The thing was just obviously toying with the man.

In response, Kevin jumped at the thing with a high kick. The thing that he positive wasn't Hope any more grabbed onto his kick and flew up into the air, letting him dangle about.

The creature let out a raucous laugh. "See how you are truly exposed when brought to your weakness like an infant! Does the majestic king of the jungle attack alone or does he rely on the support of his pride? Divide and conquer! You are infatuated by a true evil that is holding you by the thread! Me and this child that is my host—this 'Hope'—has learned this lesson, letting me into his body and letting us conquer you through our division!"

Vanille watched on from below, shocked by the scene that was unfolding before her eyes. This creature wasn't truly Hope, was it? Was her line of vision deceiving her? Hope couldn't ever be this cruel to anyone, not even to a man that righteously deserved it!

The man hanging around in the air resorted to pleading to the demon boy that was holding him. "Please! Put me down, I beg of you!"

"Your true self has been revealed at last! I will now give to you a gift—a gift of the ultimate horror!" Hope did a nosedive at the ground, flying at maximum velocity. When he reached about ten feet away from the green grass, he let go of the man and slammed him into the ground. He then rose back up into the air, circling about as he did so. "Shall I show you the fabled form of evil? The path of those with no virtue?" He smirked devilishly.

Kevin saw above him something ominous forming. It was a dark ball of energy that started out very small that seemed like just a bird in the sky. Then this tiny bird grew into the size of a behemoth that had remarkably learned to fly. Then the behemoth transformed into the size of a Long Gui. The dark ball of energy then got condensed into a small ball in Hope's hands, emanating with the upmost amount of shadow energy.

"Would you like to visit my place, boy?" The thing asked viciously. "Would you like to visit _hell_?"

"Hope, no! Don't do it!"

_What the- Vanille? Where's Vanille?!_ "Shut it, boy! This is my time now! Do you want this groveling man destroyed or not?"

Vanille continued to yell upwards. "Please Hope! I'm begging you, don't do it!"

_I'm sorry, I can't do this! I don't want to kill this man no matter how much he deserves it!_ "So you have a soft spot for the lovely lady, eh?" The demon let out a twisted laugh. "I understand, kid." _By the way, you really need to control the philosophical side of your darkness._ "You rarely ever let me out. I've been working on speeches like that for ages." _Yeah, just let me back out._ "Whatever kid."

The creature diminished the massively powerful ball of dark energy and then swept down to the ground, landing gently and down on one knee. "Fare the well." It said this to both Vanille and Kevin who were both still shocked by what had just happened. A white light took over the body. They could see the horns and wings going back to nothing inside the young boy. The light began to fade until it was just Hope all over again, who fell flat onto the ground exhausted from that gargantuan spell.

Hope forced himself back up from the ground and staggered over to Vanille. He picked up her skirt along the way and approached her carefully, not wanting to startle her. She looked liked a panicked little kitten of sorts. Hope did his best to not look down at her thin and pink underwear hugging her waist. The perpetrator hadn't gotten far with the ordeal of making Vanille his before Hope had gotten there. _Thank Etro for that._

He handed her the fluffy skirt while huffing and puffing, trying his best to put on the most ridiculous smile he had than ever before. "I…I believe this belongs…to you..." He kneeled down next the girl.

Vanille blushed and cautiously took the garment from the young boy. He held it up against her lower body, trying her best to cover herself up. "You didn't have to get it. It's torn anyway."

"You'd look a little indecent strolling around like that, wouldn't you?" Hope rubbed his head. "_Ai-ai-ai,_ I'm…I'm feeling a bit woozy."

Hope doubled over onto the vibrant and luscious grass with a smile and, with a little laugh on the side, passed out. Vanille went down beside him instantly and started shaking him vigorously.

"Hope?! Hope, wake up! C'mon Hope!" She continued to shake him. He pounded on him a few times as hard as she could to wake him.

"Vanille?!" She looked up towards a familiar voice. It was Snow, who came running towards the two. He saw that she was trying to cover herself up, so he didn't bother asking what had happened. Snow leaned down next to Hope and put his ear up against his chest. There was a pulse still there, but just barely.

"Damn damn damn damn damn!" Snow hit the side of the building as hard as he could, chipping away a piece of brick. "What did he do, Vanille? What…what happened to him?"

Vanille explained what had happened previously to Snow including at one point finding herself having to restrain the larger man from beating the living hell out of Kevin, who was now out cold on the cement sidewalk. "Then Hope came back, he took a punch from Kevin and…and…he said something."

Snow grabbed onto Vanille's shoulders. "What did he say Vanille? What in the Goddess' name did he say?!"

"I-I can't remember exactly." She admitted rather pathetically. "All I remember is him saying some type of spell and then transforming into this demon-like thing…" she trailed off and shook her head frantically. "It was something like…I don't know, Inferno? Infernus…look, all I remember about that spell is that it contained the word Umbra in it, alright?"

Snow was stricken with fear. He had the idea in the back of his mind for some time that it may have been _that_ spell, but he didn't want to believe it. Hope must've really been pissed off to use that one; he knows the consequences after using it!

"I'll explain it to you later! We need to get Hope to a hospital now!" Snow picked the boy up with one arm and lopped him over his shoulder. He felt thoroughly in his pocket until he found what he was looking for. He dialed one number and pressed send with having a specific number on speed dial.

"Hello? Roman?"

"Hey Snow! What's up?"

"Look, we need you to come pick us up at the campus and quickly! Hope needs to get to a hospital and fast!"

The taxi driver on the other line was stunned by the announcement. "Alright, let me drop these people off I have in the back. I'll be there in about five minutes."

Snow hung up and started running towards the gate. Vanille began to follow until Snow yelled back to her. "You stay here!"

"What? Why?!"

"You're already traumatized enough; you don't need this on your plate!" Snow was already at the metal bars of the gate and punched in a few number on the keypad, unlocking it (each student was given the code for the unlocking the gate when they received their key cards). Vanille knew Snow was right, but didn't want to believe it.

The usually happy-go-lucky woman ran back to the apartment in tears.

* * *

**Hey all! Trapex here with another addition to Struggling Hope! I'll admit that this chapter felt a lot more fun to write than the other ones as it provided me with a challenge of snaring away from my usual fluff surrounding the story and enter a more intense and darker side of the world. Anyway, back to writing! As Stan Lee would say, _Excelsior! _**


	7. Rejuvination

Hope had been in the hospital for an entire week. The doctors there had managed to get his irregular heartbeat back to normal and his condition was stabilized. On the fourth day that he was in there, Hope had finally waked up. The only news since then that Vanille had gotten on him was that he would be back in time for classes to start.

During this entire time, she remained locked in her room, refusing to exit the secure location. Vanille blamed herself for the mess that had taken place and stayed curled up in a ball on her bed, crying her eyes out. She had left several bruises on her hands from when she tried to punch in the wooden headboard up against the wall on her bed. Vanille felt helpless and small; weak without the faintest idea of what to do to help herself or any others around her. For Snow, he wouldn't let her leave for the hospital and didn't want her to help him because he wanted her to relax and rest to get over that horrible chapter in her school life that had barely even begun. She couldn't even help Hope who looked to be just a little boy in her eyes originally. He had grown up faster than anyone could even imagine and Vanille felt as if she remained a child still in comparison to the man who had stood up for her when she needed him most.

Vanille's cold had gotten better. Evidently the event helped in a strange way as to let her cry all of the pathogens out of her system. Classes would start tomorrow and Hope was supposed to be coming back today. The Oerbian woman lay there on her back, staring up into the ceiling being mesmerized by infinite whiteness of it. It was nothing but a blank canvas. She saw what she could do: start out by painting the outlines for her picture in black. Then to add the basic colors without any shade; green for wonderful plains of Pulse, blue for the deep sky, brown for the island world up in that blue sea known as Cocoon. Then the details of cities, people traveling about it, and the boastfully many odd animals roaming and grazing the grasslands. It would all be so beautiful!

And then she realized what she had done. In her head, she had described to herself the metaphor for what her life was. Vanille simultaneously hit herself on the forehead, shaking her head at the degrading thought of trying to make something out of nothing. She decided she needed to talk to someone about this, so she dug out her phone. Vanille had already tried calling Hope before, but he had left his cell phone back in the apartment and each time that she called the hospital to talk to him they said he was either busy with a procedure or sleeping. Regardless, she scrolled on down through her contact list until she reached the F's. As soon as she found the name that she was looking for, she sent the call.

The phone rang twice before a gruffer female voice picked up. "Hello?"

"Hey Fang!" Vanille said excitedly. She hadn't talked to her friend in what seemed ages even though it had just been a week or so.

"Vanille! How the hell are ya?"

"Not so good, actually." Vanille sat up and sat on the edge of the bed, biting her thumb.

"Why? What happened? Are there any bastards whose asses need to be whooped?" Fang said this with so much passion backed up behind it.

"No…okay, maybe one, but that's not the reason I called!" Kevin had already been taken care of by the police. It turned out he already had several other accounts of sexual assault and assault and battery on different women. Vanille was just lucky enough that Hope came by when he did.

"So what is it then? The Lieutenants gonna have my ass if I don't keep this under ten minutes." Vanille could hear the barking of orders through the phone.

"Okay, so the first day that I got here at the train station, some guy tried to steal my purse. Thankfully, he was stopped and this really nice boy named Hope got it back for me. I gave him my number and we have been friends since then! When I got to unpacking for my room I saw in a window across from me that same guy! I thought he hated me at the time, but then we got to talking and things took off!"

"Vanille, you're not going out with this boy are you?" Fang squinted and rubbed her eyes.

"No! O-Of course not!" There was a pause in the conversation. Then Vanille started up again. "Well, not yet at least…"

"Vanille..." Fang said this rather annoyed with her red-haired friend.

"You haven't even heard the rest of it yet! I almost got _raped_ a week ago, Fang! Hope saved me from it and now he's in the hospital and the man who tried to do it to me is in jail!"

Fang seemed unfazed but in truth she was trying to fight back her instinct to go and find the man and kill him in prison. She slowly let out deep breaths of air. "Are you sure that it's not just guilt making you believe that you like him?"

"I'm not really positive about it. That's why I called you! I figured you'd have some advice to give me at least!" Vanille cried out to her older friend, now sounding desperate for some type of information on the subject.

"I'm sorry Vanille. I can't decide this for you; you're a big girl now. You have to make your own decisions on your own free will. It's time for you to stand up and do what you believe is right."

"But Fan-"

Vanille was cut off by a sharp yell from the other end of the phone. "Fang! What the hell are you doing talking on your phone right now?! We are running drill sessions and not talking to our girlfriends about the newest style or fashion trend! Get back in line!"

"Yes ma'am, Lieutenant Lightning!" Fang shouted in direct response. "Sorry Vanille, I gotta go now!"

And then dead silence. The yell of that woman that Vanille hadn't met sent shivers down the red-haired girl's spine. _She sounds like even more of a bitch than Fang does when she's angry._ Vanille fell back onto her bed, still having her phone in-hand. _Make my own decisions, huh? I don't know what to do! I'm all of seventeen years old! People should know better than to trust teens that age!_ Vanille sighed heavily and beat the soft mattress with her fists.

Vanille felt her phone vibrate in her hand, letting out a tone. She looked to see who it was and instantly let out a small shriek of joy and sadness.

The name read "Hope" across the small, rectangular screen.

"H-Hello?! Hope?!"

"Hey Vanille." Hope said kind of dryly. "How've you been? I've heard that you've been a shut-in for the past week or so."

Vanille turned a deep red. "Y-Yeah…I kind of overreacted."

"Ah, don't worry about it. I'm sure I would've reacted the same way."

"Wait a minute…" Vanille trailed off. "I thought you left your phone here?"

"I did originally, but Snow was good enough to bring it to me today. He kind of figured I might want to call some people and tell them with my own voice that I was okay."

Vanille let out a small giggle. "So Hope." She took in a deep breath. "I-I'm sorry that you-"

"Vanille, don't even start. It was my moral obligation to try and help you. For goodness sake, you were about to be forced to have _sex_ with that son-of-a-bitch!" Snow was sitting with Hope, from whom he took the phone from.

"Hey Vanille. Snow here; Hope was getting a little hotheaded. We'll see you when we back to the apartment in about an hour or so."

The sound of the phone snapping shut rang through her bedroom as she sat on the edge in disbelief. _An hour, huh? I can probably get a few things done in that kind of time._ Vanille stood up and felt a little bit of pain immediately.

She had changed her sense of style almost entirely. To replace her lovely pink skirt—which she missed quite dearly—Vanille wore instead a pair of dark skinny jeans. In place of her bright pink halter top with a bunch of complicated beads, she put on a loose white t-shirt that came off one of her shoulders and it had a picture of a cutesy group of Chichus playing together, wrestling about in a puddle of clear and clean lake water. To be honest, she didn't like the jeans. Vanille felt like that they were way too tight but she heard that men found it sexy and appealing to the senses. _I'm really hoping that Hope finds it good-looking too._

Vanille made her way out the door and into the kitchen. She brought out her _Kiss the Cook_ apron and tied it at her waist. As she was sashaying throughout the area, banging pots and pans while looking for different ingredients, she began humming an old Oerbian tribal tune. She would've sung the song if she knew the words to it, but Vanille had forgotten them a few years ago and so she only relied on the musical notes that she remembered fondly. The red-haired woman diced potatoes, sliced onions, and shredded some cheese all into one pot on top of some behemoth meat. She threw the grater that she was using into a nearby sink and began washing her hands as she let the ingredients boil together under a lid on the pot. She checked the clock and saw it had been almost an hour, surprisingly.

"You're getting slower at this type of thing, Vanille." The Oerbian woman said to herself.

Snow slammed the door open to Vanille's complete and utter shock. He carried in a few items of choice that presumably were Hope's things from the hospital. They numbered few, as he just brought in some hygienic products. Still, Snow put on a smile as he looked towards Vanille.

"Glad to see you up and about out of your little bunker."

"I was just making some dinner." Vanille said plainly.

"Okay. He's just coming up the elevator by the way; just figured you'd want to know in case if you planned on putting him in a bear hug."

Snow had barely let out the last few words before Vanille rushed out the door. He looked towards the stovetop and turned the heat down.

Vanille waited all the more anxiously as she heard the bell on the elevator system ping as it rose up the few floors. As soon as those doors slid open, she almost tackled the boy before he could get out a few words. To her surprise, he fell back rather easily and then she saw why.

Hope was on crutches. The man had fractured ligaments in his left leg in three places and they were all pretty severe, according to the doctors treating him. They had given the boy prescription drugs to take every day to help the healing process. He groaned in pain as she put her weight on him, to which she quickly let go of him and cupped her hands over her mouth.

Vanille silently let out a gasp of horror. "Oh my goodness, Hope…I…I…"

"It's fine, Vanille." Hope slowly made his way forward with a step, approaching the now even taller (due to him hunching over slightly) red-head.

"I didn't know you were hurt this badly!" Tears started forming at the brim of her eyes.

"Damn it Vanille, don't cry!" Hope stomped his right crutch furiously. "I'm the dumbass who decided it was a good idea to use that spell!"

Vanille was taken aback by the platinum-blonde man's sudden outburst. He looked very angry, but not nearly as much as he did a week ago.

Hope looked down in embarrassment. "I'm sorry, Vanille. I…I didn't mean…"

"It's alright Hope. I know that it must be hard for you to stay calm through this mess that I caught you up in and I'm just glad that I have you as a friend. If you couldn't be as level-headed as you are, then I don't think that I would've survived even the brunt of the first few days of this place." Vanille put on a smile for the boy to reassure him.

Hope was flushing with a complete tone of red on his cheeks. He decided to change the subject. "L-Let's get inside, shall we?"

"Okay!" Vanille led the way and it was only then that Hope noticed that she had changed clothes. He had his mouth hang open at the sight of it all and instantly found himself hardened from the mortal goddess before him. He looked downwards only to see her butt fit tightly into the jeans. He gazed at it for a moment or two before he shook his head.

"Must be the drugs acting up." Hope said to himself unconvincingly.

"Something wrong, Hope?" Vanille asked playfully of him.

"N-No! I'm fine, I'm fine…." Hope pressed onwards and tried to get up beside Vanille to forgo his attempts to stare. No matter what he did though, he found himself behind her at all times. It was as if she was speeding up when she heard the clunks of his crutches behind her. _It's like she's flaunting her body off to me!_

She was. For the short amount of time that they would be walking back to the apartment, Vanille _wanted_ Hope to look. She wanted to tempt the boy until he had almost no control over himself! If things worked out the way that she had planned them, Hope would ask her out very soon.

But Hope didn't think any of this. He did his best trying to stray his eyesight away from the woman in front of him. He didn't want her to think of him as a pervert or a freak! Hope knew of the events that had taken place just a week ago and the very idea that Vanille would try something so rash and unthinkable was unbelievable. If he even attempted anything of the thoughts that his lower mind was thinking right now she would hate him for sure. So he kept his head up with as much dignity and respect for his fellow human being as possible and pressed forward just fighting through the pain of his leg. His fifth leg didn't exactly agree with his decision, though.

They had reached the door of the apartment and Vanille felt around for her key card. "Umm…uh oh."

"You forgot your key card, didn't you?" Hope shot her a look and spoke in an unimpressed fashion.

"I didn't mean to!" She pleaded to Hope. "Well don't you have yours?"

"Snow took it off me day one that they put me on medications; claimed that I might go 'ape-shit crazy.'"

Vanille let out an angered groan and rapped on the door. "Snow?! Can you let us in?!"

From the faintest corners of the dorm she could hear the tall blonde man yell out "Yeah, I will! Just hold up a sec! I'm taking a dump in here!"

Vanille leaned against the wall and put her hand over her face in disgust. Hope just laughed at the woman's reaction to what he had experienced on a regular basis.

"You'll be happy to know that that happens a lot around the place." Hope leaned with her and smiled at her complexion.

Vanille giggled a little bit. Hope felt reassured at that, happy that he could make her laugh at the very least of anything. Truth be told, that's all he'll ever want if he can't ever date her.

The woman shifted so that way she was facing Hope as she leaned against the wall. If she were to get in his head, Vanille guessed that now would be the opportunity to do so. "You were awfully quiet back there when we were walking just now."

Hope felt his heart tug a bit at that statement. "W-Well, we didn't have much to talk about then, did we?"

"Did you see something you liked?" Vanille asked in an almost seductive tone.

This time around he knew he was turning the brightest shade of red that he had ever turned before. _Did she just say that? Honest to God, did she just __**say**__ that?_ Hope gulped heavily and readjusted his collar as to play out him being cool and calm. "I-I don't know what you're talking about." He acted out a fake half-hearted laugh.

"C'mon, Hope." She leaned in closer to his ear and dropped her volume to a whisper. "Were you checking me out?" She put her arm around his shoulders and then he could smell it: a hint of peach wafted its way up to his nostrils.

Hope looked down away from Vanille, too embarrassed to confront the question full-force. "I, uh…um…well I…" _Only one thing to do buddy: faint and hope things turn out for the best!_ Hope closed his eyes and fell to the floor rather gingerly as to make it look real but also not hurt his ligament to a further extent than it what it already was. He could still hear everything that was happening, but didn't even bother opening his eyelids.

Vanille bent down to his side, grabbing him on the shoulders and shaking him. "Hope? Hope, not again! Please, wake up!"

_Whoa! Easy, Vanille! I'm going to open my eyes here in a few seconds!_ Hope felt a bit nauseous as she made his head buzz everywhere. He suddenly felt her stop shaking him and then heard sobbing coming from the same general direction. _Damn. You made her cry again Hope. Nice going. _

The next thing he felt took him completely by surprise. As he was just about to wake up from his fake fainting, he had a warm feeling spread about on his lips. That was when he realized that it wasn't just any warm feeling. No, this one was special beyond any recognition that he could ever describe as he knew what it was; the cause behind all of this blissful mayhem that danced and pranced about in his cranium.

Vanille was kissing him.

He didn't open his eyes, though. Hope still didn't want Vanille to know that he was actually awake this whole time. But oh how desperately he wanted to open them! He wanted to see Vanille's wonderful embodied look of surprise as he opened his eyes and gave her a smirk. Hope just wanted to see Vanille light up to the color of her hair! He could see the events unfold before him on the movie theater screen of his eyelids: Vanille being so happy that she could kiss him over and over until they're lips hurt, Snow finding the two on the ground entwined in love and caring. Then they would start going out on dates, holding hands and just being so intimate with each other in public. Eventually Hope had thought of even proposing to Vanille. He could see them getting married on the eternal plains of Gran Pulse. Their friends and family would all be there as they were wed, and then they would go back to their own little place perhaps in Oerba as his special treat to her. He loved every thought that crossed his mind!

Is this what he really wanted though? To have his relationship with this woman to be built on a lie? It didn't fit right with his conscience, but still he pondered it. He thought of the other possible outcomes. Vanille could be crushed by the man's lack of reaction to her kiss. Then she would go off and start dating other men who were fitter and a lot stronger than Hope could ever be. He wouldn't have a chance in this lifetime of getting her back, and by then Vanille would've forgotten about him. He would just be that one kid who lived with her in school. That's all it would strive to.

_What if…ah, fuck it!_ Hope didn't open his eyes though. Instead, he pushed forward on the kiss. Vanille made a slight moaning sound as he took initiative. She was completely astounded by what was happening. They could both feel the electricity running through their veins. Hope pressed onwards until he was on top of the woman, not caring if anyone in the hallway saw them or not.

They stopped kissing for a few seconds to catch their breaths. "Wow…Hope, that was…"

"Amazing? Incredible? A damn side better than anything else?"

"All of the above." Vanille giggled sweetly as they locked their lips together once again. "But Hope, you shouldn't be doing this."

"Why not?"

"Well there's your leg…"

"Vanille, I've been holding these feelings in for far too long to be held back by a bum body part. At this point, I don't really care if I get hurt even worse."

Vanille had a look of elatedness spread across her face. "Ahhhh!" It was a sound of joy escaping from her lips before she smacked them up against Hope's for a third time.

"Oh, and by the way…"

"What?" Vanille asked the new Hope on top of her.

"I was looking at your butt." He came clean on the deal and Vanille didn't seem to mind as they pressed their lips together once more.

"_Finally! _Watching you two fiddle around your feelings was almost as hard as watching a reality TV show!"

Snow had appeared in the doorway to the embarrassed looks of Hope and Vanille. They quickly separated and Vanille helped Hope get up off the floor. He dusted the dirt of himself and she fluffed up her hair to make sure it was still curly. They tried to play it off as casually as they possibly could, but it didn't stop Snow from snickering.

"For how you two looked I wouldn't be surprised if you tried to get it on in the hallway." Snow said to them laughing.

"It's not funny!" Vanille yelled at him.

"I know it's not—it's actually quite romantic. But Hope, I don't think that you should be doing this because of your war injury."

"Very funny." Hope walked (or rather limped) past the man on through the door with Vanille right behind him, having Snow almost convinced she was going to pounce on him any second.

"Look, the only thing I ask is that you keep the noise level down if you start doing anything very serious." Snow pointed accusingly at them as he reentered the kitchen and stirred the ingredients in the pot that Vanille had completely forgotten about.

"Don't worry. I don't think we'll do anything like that right away. My leg is still broken, in case you didn't notice." Hope said to his friend.

"Broken things haven't stopped you from doing something stupid ever before." Snow muttered his retort. Hope gave him a glare in return and Vanille quite typically giggled to end it.

* * *

**Trapex again with an addition to Struggling Hope! I don't really have much to say other than please, as per usual, leave any reviews or comments that you have about the chapter or the story in general. Thanks again and I'm working on chapter 8 as we speak, so you won't have to wait very long for it (hopefully)!**


	8. Chosen

"I heard about this…happening. I'm very sorry that you had to experience that within your first week of being at Titanus." Sazh Katzroy put his hands together on his stomach and leaned back in his office chair, letting it squeak rather loudly. He let out a heavy sigh and shook his head. "There is one thing that we'll have to talk about though."

Hope and Vanille had been called to the quarters of Dean Katzroy the day after Hope had gotten back from the hospital. There was no need for Vanille to accompany him as it was mainly for the sake of Hope's future at the school. The red-haired Oerbian woman, being her own self, insisted continuously until Hope gave in (he did admit that it was him succumbing to the effects of a well-planted kiss).

"W-What is it, sir?" Hope asked nervously.

"I heard reports of _how_ Mr. Patrick was beaten. Some have described you as freakish and a disruption to the campus and its inhabitants. Others have said that, and I quote, it was 'fucking amazing.' While I'll stand by and say that most of the students that came to me were immediately sent to a drug testing afterwards, I can't help but wonder what could be going through their little fantasy-filled worlds of their minds that had caused them to become so elated and ecstatic all of a sudden." The man with the afro got up from his chair of seniority and walked around to the two students, sitting on the corner of his desk. "Would you have the right mind to fill me in?"

Hope looked downwards with a heavy feeling of anguish. Magic was quite the strange thing that didn't offer much except for ways of self-defense and a few party tricks here and there. He would have a hard time explaining this all to the man.

"Take your time. You have been through a lot and I understand. I just want a simple explanation of how you came to beat a man that was almost twice your bodyweight and was known to pump iron regularly."

Thanks to that doubted statement, Hope's story would seem even more past farfetched than it already was. He was about to just plead out and beg for forgiveness and lose all of his sanity until Vanille came in. She put her arm around her boyfriend and hugged him tightly. The platinum-blonde had to confess how much better this felt now than it did just a few mere seconds ago.

"C'mon honey; you need to tell him. There's only a few of us that know the truth anyway." Vanille slightly tugged on the boy and readjusted his handkerchief hanging around his neck.

Hope gulped heavily and took a deep breath. "Sir, the reasoning behind my beating him was simply put into one term that doesn't come about much these days: magic. I am a wizard, you could say. I practice the arcane arts; the 'dark arts' as some have taken to calling them—which is complete bull, mind you. I don't have any intention of quitting my studies centered around this magical universe any time soon or in the distant future. Mr. Kratzoy, with all due respect, if you see this as a reason for expulsion, than you're just about as blind as Kevin was. There were no dire consequences behind my using it other than saving my girlfriend from being raped!" The sophomore student pounded his fist on the arm of his chair and accidentally chipped a bit of wood off the side. He gave the man of power a stern look until he realized what a fool he had made himself out to be. "Sir, I…I…I'm so sorry. I-I didn't mean to-"

He was cut off by Dean Katzroy holding up his hand in a silencing motion. "I've heard enough, Estheim." He let out a few puffs of air through his nostrils and then turned back to his seat. The older man slowly dived back into it and made himself comfortable within a short amount of time, readjusting his position every now and then while thinking over what he had just been presented with. Hope buried his head in his hands and Vanille started to rub his back, trying to console the young man beside her with her best efforts.

After an uncomfortable amount of awkward quietness had been reached, Sazh finally spoke again. "So you're a magician, eh kid?" He sounded much more dark and menacing than how he had composed himself to be earlier.

Hope didn't even bother looking up from his hands. He had tarnished his reputation and he knew it. "Y-Yes sir." He did his best to fight away the tears.

"How far along are you with it?"

The platinum-blonde looked up in surprise. "Uh…I've learned most destruction-based spells and a lot of the illusion ones too. The only ones that I'm struggling to find are support and sabotage spells."

"You're pretty far ahead then, aren't you?"

"I-I'd say so."

Sazh chuckled. "You're lacking something, wouldn't you say?"

Hope looked at the dean with confusion. "W-What do you mean, sir?"

"Every good magician needs it, don't they? Y'know, a little…I don't know, _Bravery?_" Sazh Katzroy flicked his wrists at that moment towards Hope.

To the young man's shock and awe, little balls of light began to encompass him. A purple glow radiated from his heart and a magically drawn circle had appeared beneath him. Vanille had let go and stared in amazement. The little balls of light that floated around him had started to dart their way towards his body which they entered without any trouble. The glow was turning brighter and Hope could feel a warm sensation overcome him. An aura of purple rose around him in a circular fashion, presumably from the spell's circle that had appeared in the ground. For the finale of the beautiful piece of magic, it all suddenly just shot inside of him and dissipated to nothing. It left him with the same warm feeling that he had known before during the spell's casting. The odd thing about it was that he didn't feel like he was a chicken or anything of the sort.

As Hope did the best to catch his breath, Vanille turned to Sazh. "Sir…_you're_ a wizard?"

"I've picked up a few skills along my journeys as an old man. Give me credit where credit is due." He gave the couple a nice wink. "Now how do you feel, Hope?"

"I…I feel…better, actually." Hope quit clutching his chest and steadied his breathing. "Was…was that a support spell, sir?"

"Just a small one."

"Wow. I don't know if I could handle that kind of power." As soon as Hope said this, Vanille gave him a sarcastic look. He instantly knew that she was thinking about that demonic spell that took him over entirely. Hope looked back to Sazh, trying to give him his full attention.

"Apparently that spell restored bravery but not any confidence, it seems." Sazh mused aloud.

"Not much you can do about that, eh sir?"

"I'm afraid not, son."

"What about my leg?" He rubbed the ligament in question slowly and carefully. Sazh shook his head, and Hope sighed in disappointment. "Well, it was worth a try."

"Buck up, kid. You've gotta look out for yourself sometime."

"He won't be doing that as long as _I'm_ around!" Vanille tightened her grasp around Hope and put on a wonderfully bright smile. The platinum-blonde smirked and blushed lightly.

Sazh chuckled. "I hate to say this, but it looks like this young man's saving of your…" Sazh juggled around some words in his brain, trying to think of one that wouldn't be offensive. "Let's say innocence. Yeah, we'll say that's our safe word. Anyway, Hope's saving you from your innocence being derived from you seems to have led for the best for the two of you, wouldn't you say?"

The couple sat there and thought about it for a few moments. Sure, their relationship has developed drastically over the past few days, but did the attempted crime really have something to do with it? They both liked to think that it would've gone on just fine without that scarring event happening, but would it have really? Was their relationship really put on the pillars of a judicial law being broken? Hope felt uneasy about the thought, as if he took advantage of Vanille's fragileness during that small window of time where she was practically broken to pieces. He thought over the things that had taken place on that day: he got out of the elevator with crutches to the bubbly and hugging Vanille's guilt and despair as if it were her fault, she led him on with flaunting her body to him (which he had to admit was kind of a bump in the road to get over in terms of embarrassment), she seduced him, he fought back by doing a fake faint, and then she initiated the kiss which he shortly took over after a time of extensive thinking whether his decision would be morally right or not.

_Yeah, our relationship sounds totally legitimate._ Hope thought to himself in his own sarcasm. He ran his hands through his thick and spiky hair.

Vanille, on the other hand, went about it in a much more enthusiastic manner. She quickly pulled the boy in for a gentle and soothing kiss. It lasted for about five seconds—Hope counted it off in his head as he wished the count had gone for minutes to hours to days to years—before the Oerbian woman pulled away and giggled.

"I suppose you're right, Mr. Katzroy!" Vanille stated the elder man who was taken aback by her sudden affection that she had demonstrated in front of him.

Sazh again laughed. "Just call me Sazh. You make me feel old when you say Mr. Katzroy."

As if to drive the point home, a little fair-haired boy burst through the door. He screamed at the top of his lungs "Hi daddy!"

"Dajh! How's my little man?!" Sazh ran to him to pick him up and twirled him around in the air.

"Great! Ms. Farron got me from school just like you said she would!"

Sazh looked past his young boy to see in the door the woman in question. She had her pink her up to the side and wore a dress that stopped tightly around her mid-thigh. She was a small woman but a happy one nonetheless.

"Thank you, Serah."

"Don't mention it, Mr. Katzroy. Now I better get back to my quarters. No sense in me having a job here if I don't have a lesson plan for tomorrow, huh?" Serah said brightly.

"You're worth more to the university than you know." Sazh said as he started patting his boy on the back. The sweet and small woman turned around and made haste out the door. Sure, she may've looked flighty and obnoxiously copacetic at times, but she was still completely likeable—that is, for someone whom Vanille and Hope had not met on official terms.

"And she was…?" Hope pointed back to the door that was now firmly shut.

Sazh still cradled his boy who was now drifting into his ludicrous dreams of childhood. "Serah Farron. She's a teacher here at the university."

"What's she teach?" Vanille asked.

"She teaches three classes, actually: political science, trigonometry, and public speaking."

"So she's an orator just the same as you?" Hope questioned.

"I'd like to think that my positions a bit more important." Sazh said jokingly. He looked towards the ancient clock hanging on the bland and dull brown wall. "You two youngins' better get goin'. It's getting late. I wouldn't want you to be tired for a day chock full of all these amazing and spectacular academic achievements and opportunities that await you!"

Hope got himself up with Vanille supporting him while he got adjusted. "I take it you think that the pamphlet they sent us was completely stupid?"

"Maker, more than you know kid. But it was either that or tell each student individually 'Welcome to Hell.'"

Hope was amused by the man's banter. It struck him though. "Oh! Sir, you wouldn't happen to have another key card for Vanille, would you? She's moved in with us now."

Sazh cocked an eyebrow. "Oh really?"

"N-Not because of the reasons that you think!" Hope protested while a slight hue of red entered his youthful cheeks. "Her roommate dived out on her at the last minute and she doesn't want to be alone." Vanille nodded in confirmation when the older black man glanced her way to make sure it wasn't a made-up story.

Sazh shrugged. "Eh, alright. She can move in with you two."

Vanille twiddled her thumbs. "Wh-What about the key?"

"You guys don't know? Each room has a spare in one of the kitchen drawers." The Dean's son could be heard snoring at that time.

Hope smacked himself on the head for not thinking about the possibility while Vanille giggled with a hint of bashfulness.

"I'm sorry sir. We should've checked before asking." Hope apologized to his superior.

"Think nothing of it. It was just an honest mistake on your part and it's not unusual either." He turned back and sat in his fluffy and puffy office chair. "Now go on and get out of here, you two. C'mon, shoo." He swept his right hand at them. "And Estheim!"

The platinum-blonde spun around as quickly as his crutches would allow him. "What is it, sir?"

"Didn't I tell you to call me Sazh?" Sazh told him.

Hope chuckled. "Sure thing, Sazh. We'll see you sometime hopefully not-so-soon."

"Cheers to that, kid. Cheers to that." The couple left the room for the father and son and closed the door behind them. Once there was a solid wooden sound of the door shutting tightly, Sazh turned his attention to his son. "Looks like we need to get you to bed."

* * *

The sun was beginning to set on the horizon. Hope hadn't ever noticed how beautiful this phase of the day looked even inside the campus grounds. Titanus didn't take away any of the natural beauty that had encompassed Gran Pulse and boy was he glad. To think he even had a girl who acknowledged to know him as her boyfriend made it all the more better.

That was when he began questioning himself again. The clatter against the sidewalk as his and Vanille's feet when from heel to toe with each step broke the otherwise noiseless setting. To be honest, he had mixed feelings. Would those extra sounds of steps be there if he didn't risk his life to save her? Even worse, how badly did he injure Kevin? His morals wouldn't exactly be upstanding if he had severely broken the criminal or, in a worst case scenario, killed him. The thoughts zigzagged across his mind like vines up and down a jungle's rock wall. He was too busy thinking that he hadn't even noticed his leg beginning to cramp. In fact, by the time he reached down to try and massage it, he was down on one knee—his good knee, mind you—and clenching his teeth to fight away the pain. Vanille was by his side once again as if it had started to become second nature to her.

"Are you all right?"

"Yeah." Hope replied shortly. "Yeah, I…I think so." He started to push himself off the ground. Hope sighed rather heavily as he failed to do so. "Just go on ahead. I've got a little bit to get through."

"No Hope. I'm not leaving you out here by yourself." His love grasped his shoulder.

"Please…I'll be back eventually. I don't want to hold you back any." _I'm probably doing that figuratively anyway._

"What makes you think that you're holding me back?" Vanille must've caught on to what Hope was thinking when she asked this question.

"I…I just feel like I'm hindering you. It's been—what? All of a week since that fiasco with Kevin? Then, even worse, a day since we've just been unofficially dating! Whenever you're around me, it just looks like I'm doing nothing good for you and I don't want that." Hope shook his head.

Vanille seemed appalled by her boyfriend's sudden bitterness. "Hope Estheim! I am your _**girlfriend!**_ Don't tell me to leave you alone just to save you a shred of dignity!"

"I'm not telling you to do it for my sake! I'm telling you to do it for yours!"

Vanille grabbed onto her smaller boyfriend's shoulders and turned to face him eye-to-eye. "Do you think I care? Hope, if I really wanted a man who's different than you are, then I wouldn't have chosen you. I don't want you to think that I just did this out of pity for you. You are the one who I chose out of nothing but my own pure free will, Hope, and I never want you to forget that." She flicked him on the forehead, causing him to flinch back and close his eyes.

"Ow…" Hope grimaced. He looked back his girlfriend who now had tears forming at the brim of her eyes. He immediately felt the guilt squeeze his heart.

"Hope…are you trying to tell me…that you don't want to be with me?" Vanille asked through the whimpering tone in her voice.

"What?! No! Of course not, Vanille!" Hope pleaded to her.

"Then why do you insist on me staying away from you?" The woman looked down in defeat as she played with her hands in her lap. Hope could still hear her quietly crying.

He decided to do what any good man would do. The platinum-blonde boy wrapped his arms around Vanille and softly kissed her crimson hair. For once, he actually was taller than her (albeit kneeling when happening). Hope rested his chin on the top of her head and let out a deep and discontented sigh.

"I don't want you to get hurt." Hope said in a susurrus. "I feel like you're always at risk whenever you're around me, Vanille. I couldn't stand it if you ended up in the hospital because of one of my own stupid errors. Without a doubt I'll be back on my feet in no time and then I'll just go back to using my magic to its fullest potential and I'd hate for you to accidentally get hurt because of a misfire. Magic is an unpredictable and cruel mistress Vanille, and she doesn't hold to highly of me."

Vanille held back her sobbing and wiped away any tears that were left. She prepared her rebuttal, but before she could deliver it her lips were mailed something completely different. It silenced her but filled her with pleasure as her lover pressed his lips against hers.

"Hope, before we get distracted…" Vanille put her index finger up to his lips as to stop him before he went back in for another bout. "I need to tell you that you shouldn't be worrying about me. I know the risks and stipulations that come along with you and….well, what's my life without a little bit of excitement in it?" She winked at him.

Hope felt an ember of blood flood his cheeks. "So…what now then?"

"Let's get back to the apartment, okay? Snow's probably wondering where we are."

"Are you kidding? With him, he'll probably be snoring when we get in the door."

Vanille laughed at the thought that her imagination let free. After getting up and brushing herself off, she helped Hope up as he got back onto his crutches. He couldn't help but smile at the young woman. They progressed back into a walk, chitchatting casually as if nothing had happened.

Then Vanille thought of something. "Hey Hope."

"Yeah?"

"What did you mean we were 'unofficially' dating?"

"Well," Hope began. "I didn't technically ask you out, did I? We just entered into a random make-out session in the hallway out of nowhere and then said almost nothing about it after that. It was kind of a fleeting moment."

"Shouldn't you fix that then?" She asked, teasing the young man.

He chuckled. Hope stopped walking and turned to the young woman as they were just outside their apartment building. "Vanille Dia, would you like to go out to dinner sometime?"

Vanille expected it, but still her heart fluttered. She even put on a bit of a surprised act just for show. "Yes! Yes I would love to!"

They both started to laugh. As they were letting their laughter bellow through the slowly darkening sunset, Hope couldn't help but feel elated. He was, for what felt like the first time in his life, perfectly content. Maybe them going out wouldn't be such a bad idea after all. Perhaps it will even develop into something much more.

Hope and Vanille only looked onward. Past reality and into the future, where there would be no struggles.

* * *

**Hey there all! Trapex here with what I'm thinking is the final chapter to Struggling Hope. I just don't feel like there is anywhere else that I can go with this story and the ending to this chapter felt so perfect. I may have other one-shots to tie up some loose ends surrounding the story, but as far as the story goes with Hope and Vanille's relationship, I can't fathom anything beyond what I've already written besides them being lovey-dovey all the time and characters being totally irate with them. I don't want that. I want to end where it is bittersweet for the reader, but leaves a feeling of satisfaction. It's the end that matters the most, and as long as I have left all my fans following this story with warm feelings in their hearts, then I feel like I have accomplished what I have set out to do. There will be other romantic Hope and Vanille one-shots by me, but most of them will probably not pertain or relate to this story in any way shape or form. **

**I hope you all enjoyed the little tale that I've written up! Please, as always, review and leave comments on the chapter and be sure to look at the rest of my work that's lined up! **


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Final Fantasy XIII, Friendship, Romance